Tuataras are small to medium sized reptile’s, they are found on a few small islands around New Zealand. They were found inhabiting on the mainland of new zealand. The Tuatara is almost extinct from the mainland.
Another name for the Tuatara is “the living fossil” this is because they are the last of their breed
Characteristics inherited by the environment for the Tuatara are colour of the scales, eye colour, the fact that they have scales in general, legs and neck so basically the features of the Tuatara.
The characteristics that are determined by the environment are the temperature, predators, food availability,surroundings of the Tuatara and natural disasters. These characteristics help the Tuatara to survive.
Characteristics that help the Tuatara survive are there eyes because they can see the predators and the food. If they couldn't see the predators the predators would kill them straight away because the Tuatara wouldn't know the predators are there. Also they wouldn't be able to see the food so they would die of starvation.
The spiky spine also helps the Tuatara to survive because it scares away the predators.
The colour of the scales on the tuatara is another thing because it can camouflage into things.
Which means it blends in and can not be seen.
Their feet/claws help them climb up trees etc so they can get away from predators on the ground and get food that are in high places.
These adaptations allow the Tuatara to kill and eat its prey. Another one of its adaptations skills is to drop off its tail When Tuataras are caught by predators such as birds and big rats it will drop its tail off and run away.
The organism adapts to the environment because adaptation is a way an animal's body helps it survive, or live, in its environment.
The tuatara lives in the forest because the forest has the requirements that the tuatara needs to survive on. An example of this is its food. The tuatara primarily preys on insects, beetles,spiders, birds eggs, frogs and small reptiles and mammals.
An example of a change in the ecosystem that could affect the tuatara is if the food runs out. The Tuatara will die when it runs out of food because it won't be eating as it has nothing to eat and will die from starvation.
