Hatteria: a real 3 eye grows on its crown (7 photos)

They did not die out, they just disguised themselves and continued to live among us after millions of years. Do you think I'm talking about dinosaurs that became birds? No! The hatteria, skillfully masquerading as an ordinary lizard, has been encrypted much longer than them!





Stirlitz has never been so close to failure.

The cunning reptile only pretends to be a lizard, but itself has a history of millions of years. But, I must note, she has the right camouflage: a scaly carcass of camouflage brown shades, a typical angular head and a small ridge of growths on the back. In a word, the lizard is natural. But in these 40-60 cm of cold-bloodedness hides the last representative of the Rhynchocephalus order!



Don't distract me! I'm late for extinction. Well, I'm late because of you!

These were very respectable guys who held most of the ecological niches during the Jurassic period, when dinosaurs were still walking under the table. But then, first, the Dinos pushed aside the Rhynchocephalians, and 66 million years ago, almost the entire honest company threw away their sandals en masse. And the tuateria remained in splendid isolation on the islands of New Zealand. Lizards and snakes, of course, are related to her, but quite distant.



Oh youth! Always in a hurry to get somewhere.

What are the differences? Firstly, the hatteria had three eyes. True, the third eye can be called formally. The reptile practically cannot see them. The biggest thing is that it determines the time of day and helps in warming up the carcass. By the way, although the animal is cold-blooded, it does not need to bask in the sun for a long time to start moving. “Lizard” is active even in the temperature range of 16-20 C°. For comparison: ordinary lizards are comfortable with a temperature of 20-30 C°.



The lens, retina and nerves for communication with the brain are present, like a full eye. However, this organ lacks muscles and the ability to focus.

But most of all, the tuateria differs in its inner world. She also has hourglass-like vertebrae, like fish and amphibians, and a bonus set of ribs on her belly. They are called gastralia and are not attached to the spine, but dangle freely between the abdominal muscles. But the strangeness doesn’t end there either. Hatteria is a harsh long-liver. A hundred years is commonplace for her, and for reptiles of similar size it is an unattainable ideal. All thanks to selenoproteins - proteins that slow down aging.



Other reptiles 66 million years ago: *actively going extinct*. Gatteria: Why?

True, this comes back to reptiles in a different place - the animal was not given additional sets of teeth, so over the decades they are worn down to the very foundation. The murmuring tuateria has to change its diet: it will no longer be possible to crunch on snails and beetles, break the eggs of birds and feast on other reptiles. So they switch to slugs and worms.



A friendly reminder from the tuateria: take care not only of your honor, but also of your teeth from a young age!

Hatterias also reach childbearing years later. They can have children at about the same age as humans - around 20 years old. They don’t bother with complex rituals: the male simply walks in circles around the female and flexes his muscles. Often this works, and after 12 months a new generation of tuataria is born from soft eggs.



Let's go with me, honey. I'll get rid of Strafty!

Who gets out of the egg depends directly on the temperature. If it was cool outside: 18-20 C°, then an almost complete female team would appear. If the heat was warmer than 22 C°, then it would be all boys unpacking. One way or another, young people will not be in a hurry, because tuataria grow up to 35 years of age!