DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
A "Living Fossil" - Tuatara (Sphenodon Punctatus)
A "Living Fossil" - Tuatara (Sphenodon Punctatus)
kari1


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Wildlife II (Advanced Editing IV*)
Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ20
Location: Karori Wildlife Santuary
Date: Jan 24, 2006
Aperture: F2.8
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/80
Galleries: Nature, Animals
Date Uploaded: Jan 24, 2006

 The Tuatara is a lizard like creature that is only found on certain small islands around New Zealand. It is not a true Lizard but a "Living Fossil", a survivor of a group of animals that were once more widespread. They look very much like lizards but their skeleton shows many differences.

They are the only extant members of the Order Sphenodontia, which was well represented by many species during the age of the dinosaurs, some 200 million years ago. All species apart from the tuatara declined and eventually became extinct about 60 million years ago. Only Tuatara survived to become a "living fossil".

Tuataras survived because no predators invaded New Zealand. Terrestrial mammals failed to cross the Tasman Ocean, which separated New Zealand from Australia by opening about 90 million years ago. Tuataras are unusual reptiles, since they like cool weather. They do not survive well over 25 degrees centigrade but can live below 5 degrees, by hibernating in burrows. New Zealand climate was just right.

Then humans arrived and introduced kiore, dogs, ferrets, pigs and cats...

Tuatara once lived throughout the mainland of New Zealand but have survived in the wild only on 32 offshore islands. These islands are characteristically free of rodents and other introduced mammalian predators which are known to prey on eggs and young as well as compete for invertebrate food. The islands are usually occupied by colonies of breeding seabirds that contribute to the fertility and hence the richness of invertebrate and lizard fauna needed by tuatara

The ancient and rare tuatara returned to its natural environment on mainland New Zealand for the first time in over 200 years, when 70 tuatara were released at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary on Thursday 8 December.

The tuatara are now living freely in a newly constructed research area within the Sanctuary. Already the tuatara are a big hit with visitors with many being seen in their new home – both during the day and on night tours.

Tuatara became extinct on New Zealand’s mainland due to predation and have only survived in the wild on several rat-free offshore islands. They are now able to be returned to the mainland at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary due to the ground-breaking success of our unique fence which has excluded mammals that would otherwise prey on tuatara. (www.sanctuary.org.nz)

I love the look of this beasty and did the following:

Cropped
Brightness and contrast
neatimage
cloned out the identification beads
reduced
saved jpeg
sharpened
saved
loaded
...
tried to think of a name.


Statistics
Place: 102 out of 261
Avg (all users): 5.6794
Avg (commenters): 7.7778
Avg (participants): 5.6000
Avg (non-participants): 5.7174
Views since voting: 3537
Views during voting: 414
Votes: 340
Comments: 10
Favorites: 0

Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
Canon PowerShot SX60 HS
 02/01/2006 06:48:00 PM
Greetings frm the Critique Club

Nice job here. You have good definition, good color and a nice composition. And, while not a great score, certainly a decent one.

IN this crowd on nature photography, that's hard to do. I have just one suggestion for you in this very nice image: because this was an advanced editing Challenge, you might want to consider either blurring out or otherwise obscuring those reeds to the right of the critter's head. They are the brightest part of the image, and the viewer will look at them first instead of the guy's form and face.

Of course it doesn't help his cause that he lives in a mess, but you probably couldn't exaactly reach in and pose him. ;>)

All in all, a nice image that scored pretty well.

It looks as if you are enjoying your DPC experience and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Alice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Nikon D40X
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II
 01/31/2006 03:40:04 PM
wow that is verry close good job on having the photo turning out clear
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D70s
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
 01/29/2006 01:24:30 AM
LOVE the detail here and the spalashes of yellow.. nice cropping too
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 01/28/2006 11:06:53 AM
Good pic of an interesting creature!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 01/28/2006 07:11:19 AM
Excellent shot, great close-up.....and also great textures as well.....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro for Canon
 01/27/2006 02:19:12 PM
nicely done macro
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic DMC-FZ20
Panasonic DMW-LTZ10 1.5x Teleconverter
 01/27/2006 02:33:42 AM
What an awesome looking beast. Nice shot, great focus and detail
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony DSLR-A550
Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical ED
 01/27/2006 02:28:12 AM
well done I feel as old as him 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus E-500 EVOLT
Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital
 01/26/2006 04:12:15 AM
Ol'grumpy face by the looks of things. Good detail and colour. If you have these things running around near you you're lucky as they are a very endangered species.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon PowerShot S2 IS
 01/25/2006 03:28:45 AM
love it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Theme: Classic / Light / Dark
Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2026 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 10/10/2026 09:34:13 PM EDT.