Is the Tuatara doomed by the coming global warming?
June 5th 2007 10:08
Global warming may have more ramifications than we may have expected.
Despite the magnificent work undertaken by New Zealand's state- run Conservation Department to reverse the decline in our native fauna, they may have a difficult job to continue this work once the expected effects of global warming are a reality.
The Tuatara lizard, a reptile and relic from millions of years ago in the dinosaur era, has in recent times been able to recover its numbers on a predator free island just off the Auckland City limits.
The Tuatara has survived ice ages and volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters, and undoubtably a few man - made ones as well. While they have survived the climate changes of the past, the future is expected to be higher and will make them vulnerable.
The lizard-llike reptile, one of the world's oldest living creatures, is actually vulnerable to temperature change because temperature determines the sex of its young. Eventually males would increasingly outnumber their female counterparts and the breed would gradually die out.
Is the Tuatara doomed to follow the Dodo into antiquity? We certainly hope not!
Despite the magnificent work undertaken by New Zealand's state- run Conservation Department to reverse the decline in our native fauna, they may have a difficult job to continue this work once the expected effects of global warming are a reality.
The Tuatara lizard, a reptile and relic from millions of years ago in the dinosaur era, has in recent times been able to recover its numbers on a predator free island just off the Auckland City limits.
The Tuatara has survived ice ages and volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters, and undoubtably a few man - made ones as well. While they have survived the climate changes of the past, the future is expected to be higher and will make them vulnerable.
The lizard-llike reptile, one of the world's oldest living creatures, is actually vulnerable to temperature change because temperature determines the sex of its young. Eventually males would increasingly outnumber their female counterparts and the breed would gradually die out.
Is the Tuatara doomed to follow the Dodo into antiquity? We certainly hope not!
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