Reptiles
 | Tuatara | Did You Know?
* There are more than 8,200 species of reptiles in the world, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica.
* Reptiles are called cold-blooded because they can't regulate their own body temperature. Their body temperature is dependent on the external temperature.
* Reptiles have scales or plates that cover their body, and are cool and dry to the touch. This thick covering resists abrasion, limits dehydration and protects like a suit of armor.
* Snakes smell with their tongue, flicking their tongues in the air to capture scent particles.
* Crocodiles/alligators, tortoises/turtles, lizards, snakes and tuataras are reptiles.
* Tuataras are only found in New Zealand and are called "living fossils" as they are the only survivor of an ancient group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as the dinosaurs 225 million years ago.
* Geckos can climb up smooth surfaces, even glass, and hang upside down on the ceiling. Their feet are covered with millions of microscopic branched hairs, which interact at a molecular level with the surface acting like millions of tiny magnets.
* Of the approximately 200 eggs laid by a female leatherback sea turtle an average of two will survive their youth and grow to sexual maturity.
* A crocodile's digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail.
* A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body, and its eyes can move in two separate directions at the same time.
* Geckos are unique among lizards in possessiong vocal cords and able to make sounds.
* In some reptile species the sex of the babies is determined by the temperature in which the eggs are incubated, which is called Temperature Dependent Sex Determination.
* The basilisk lizard can run across the surface of water without sinking. |