The Living Fossil

This little guy is so freaking cute! Just to let you know all text looking like this: testing text is inserted and not on Wikipedia. Anyway, wiki info...

The tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. Rhynchocephalia, which flourished in the early Mesozoic era before the rise of the dinosaurs. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the squamates (lizards and snakes). For this reason, tuatara are of great interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids (the group that also includes birds and crocodiles).

Tuatara are greenish brown, and measure up to 80 cm (31 in) from head to tail-tip[4] with a spiny crest along the back, especially pronounced in males. Their dentition, in which two rows of teeth in the upper jaw overlap one row on the lower jaw, is unique among living species. They are further unusual in having a pronounced parietal eye, dubbed the "third eye", whose current function is a subject of ongoing research. They are able to hear although no external ear is present, and have a number of unique features in their skeleton, some of them apparently evolutionarily retained from fish. Although tuatara are sometimes called "living fossils", recent taxonomic and molecular work has shown that they have changed significantly since the Mesozoic era. Wiki info over.

Lots of info...if interested here is the Link

I think they are so freaking adorable and remind me a lot of a baby dragon, but without wings of course. I want one as a pet! However, I am not that mean, they are not domesticated animals. You can get them as pets, though. I just don't know if they are available in the US.

Henry seems to be the most famous of all tuatara. Henry is the world's oldest Tuatara in captivity. He is at Invercargill, New Zealand. As you see, I have read up a lot on these litte angels, and had a lot more to say, but am late at posting this. So, here are the pictures I chose....

before eating Red Bug...

Red Bug, It gives you wings!

after...

SEE, FREAKING ADORABLE!!!!

And that my good friends is where baby dragons come from. Mommy lied, they do not come from eggs, tuatara come from eggs. Baby dragons come from tuatara eating red bugs ...and maybe building a chrysalis. Though, one has never been witnessed...

Btw,yeah, I made the Red Bug and baby dragon pictures. The only actual alterations I made on the physical construction of the tuatara is that I gave him a chin tuck and an a nose job....oh and I think I fixed the appearance of a stubbed toe. The wings were made with bat wings and snake scale and the castle is indeed a Lego castle, which, to be honest, might be copyrighted. so, please be forewarned if you use this picture.

Original picture links: Lego Castle, Tuatara, Bat wings, and snake skin texture.