Wildlife

Tuatara

Tuatara are possibly one of the world’s most misunderstood creatures. Tuatara are neither dinosaurs or lizards, they are in fact the only remaining species of an otherwise extinct order of reptiles called rhynocephalids. Because all other species of the once plentiful rhynocephalids went extinct at about the same time as dinosaurs, tuatara are often incorrectly classed as living dinosaurs.

There is something primal about looking into the eye of an animal that has been the only living example of its kind for 65 million years and Rainbow Springs, with 14 recently hatched baby tuatara is possibly the best place to come face to face with pre-history.