| [00:00.00] |
It's home to a living fossil, |
| [00:02.09] |
a relict, |
| [00:03.42] |
barely changed for over 100 million years. The tuatara. |
| [00:07.91] |
And half the world's population survive on this one island refuge. |
| [00:12.89] |
During the reign of the dinosaurs, |
| [00:14.42] |
the ancestors of the tuatara were everywhere. |
| [00:17.62] |
They survived the cataclysm that killed off the dinosaurs, |
| [00:21.07] |
but then couldn't compete with the mammals and died out. |
| [00:24.95] |
Everywhere, except on what was then a mammal-free New Zealand. |
| [00:29.28] |
Unlike mammals, |
| [00:30.63] |
tuatara live life in the slow lane. |
| [00:34.68] |
Days can pass when they barely move a muscle. |
| [00:37.99] |
Sometimes taking just one breath an hour. |
| [00:41.49] |
They feed on wetas, |
| [00:43.25] |
beetles and other invertebrates |
| [00:45.60] |
but don't appear very good at catching them. |
| [00:48.30] |
Even after millions of years of practice, |
| [00:50.65] |
eye-mouth co-ordination is not what it could be. |
| [00:53.86] |
"Survival of the fittest" just doesn't seem to apply here. “ |
| [00:58.49] |
The tuatara's survival, |
| [01:00.15] |
first on New Zealand, |
| [01:01.33] |
now on Stephens Island, |
| [01:02.75] |
proves a point - islands are pretty safe places to be, |
| [01:06.81] |
at least until invaded. |
