Rare 111-year-old reptile to become a father

[Tab]

Rare 111-year-old reptile to become a father

Wed Aug 6, 1:41 AM ET

WELLINGTON (AFP) - A rare 111-year-old New Zealand reptile with links to the age of the dinosaurs is to become a father for the first time in at least 38 years after regaining an interest in sex.
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=456&sid=1454409

I guess John McCain is more alive and well than we thought. Whoda thunk?

[sakabatou]

1. Did the turtle take Cialis?

[SteppingRazor]

3. A tuatara, not a turtle.

It's kinda like a lizard, only not.

[Phredicles]

4. Off topic, but what IS the difference between a tuatara and a lizard?

I've seen pictures, and darn if the ol' thing doesn't look like a lizard.

[SteppingRazor]

5. Beats me. It's related to both lizards and snakes, but it's neither.

Supposedly, most of its closest relatives went out with the dinosaurs a few hundred million years ago, which is what makes the animal kind of a big deal -- it's the last living link between some modern reptile species. (Yes, I do watch a lot of Discovery Channel. Why do you ask? :P )

[Bear down under]

15. They are the closest living link to the dinosaurs.

Or so a biologist friend of mine who studied them for his PhD once told me. He said that if you wanted to call them "the last of the dinosaurs", you wouldn't be too far off, remembering of course that the dinosaurs weren't just one family of reptiles but many.

[pnorman]

14. Here's the Wiki on them

Tuatara resemble lizards, but are equally related to lizards and snakes, both of which are classified as Squamata, the closest living relatives of tuatara. For this reason, tuatara are of great interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids (the group that additionally includes birds and crocodiles).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara

I don't know yet what Wiki has to says about John McCain, but I'll check it out later.

pnorman

[sakabatou]

10. Whatever

[SteppingRazor]

12. Sheesh, for once I try to be educational...

:eyes:

[Ian David]

2. self-delete. n/t

[KharmaTrain]

6. Insert Your Own McCain or Bob Dole Joke Here

And just to think...Elizabeth Dole was a Viagra test track :rofl:

[Deja Q]

24. Well, I was going to make a generalized politician joke, but

you beat me to it. :P

[girl gone mad]

7. And the mom-to-be is a sprightly eighty-something.

Pretty cool animal.

[Phredicles]

8. So, as far as my earlier question, do they live a lot longer than lizards?

They do seem like really extraordinary creatures.

[girl gone mad]

11. I don't know how long lizards live..

the news story I saw mentioned that it's common for tuatara to live past 100, though the average lifespan is somewhat lower. Like many other long-lived animals, they don't reproduce very often, which is partly why they are so endangered.

[Neshanic]

9. So what is it? A lizard, turtle or John McCain?

[TygrBright]

13. The tipoff that this is NOT about McCain is the word "rare"... GOPpie reptiles are pretty common.

...though the various phyla represented in the GOP include far more invertebrates than vertebrates.

helpfully,
Bright

[Tab]

16. Well, why can't we crush the damned things?

You'd think their shell would crack.

OTOH, cockroaches have been around a looonnng time.

[Tab]

17. And don't they mate only once in 50 years?

I guess that would give him two shots (so to speak) at reproducing.

[rug]

18. And here I thought I'd never have occasion to post a tuatara mating picture.

[TexasObserver]

19. Barbara Bush is pregnant?!

Rare 111-year-old reptile = GHWB

[Vinca]

20. ROFL - that's better than a McCain joke. nt

[TexasObserver]

21. GWHB even looks like a friggin dinosaur ...

... a Pterodactyl

[Vinca]

22. They're not aging well, that's for sure.

:rofl:

[Hepburn]

23. Oh, and here I thought this was an article about McBush!

:evilgrin: