TitBits - Anything Everything

Tuatara

2011-01-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

Tuatara, have you heard about them? It is a reptile and looks like lizard (but it is not lizard). It flourished over 200 million years ago (Yes. Lived along with Dinosaurs) and only survivor of ancient group of reptiles.

Tuatara once lived abundantly in New Zealand. People and Rats drove them out to almost extinct. It is still found in few islands such as Karori Sanctuary.

Tuatara takes 8 to 8 months to lay the eggs since mating. Then it takes 11 to 16 months for hatching. It typically buries the egg that long.

It has third eye ( parietal eye) which helps to tell when its light or dark. It is greenish color and measure up to 31 in (81 cm) and weights up to 2.9 lbs (1.3 kg).

Some of the interesting facts are,

- The can hold their breath for an hour

- They can live over 100 years.

- The grow until when 35 years. It stops growing after than.

You can get additional information from

http://www.kcc.org.nz/tuatara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara

Fer-de-lance - Highly Venomous Viper

2010-12-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

Fer-de-lance means "Sperhead" in French. It is found in Central and South America. It can grow up to 7ft 6 in (2.4m). It's life span is up to 20 years. It hunts small mammals, birds, lizards and frogs. It has "pits" behind and above nostrils which can sense tempreature to the accuracy of 1/1000 degrees Celcius. It can attack with great accuracy even in the total darkness.

On Average, fer-de-lance injects about 105mg of venom in single bite. It requires 50mg to kill an human. The potent venom containing both anticoagulant and fresh-destroying-chemicals. It causes more deaths than anyother reprtile in South America.

A fer-de-lance gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs. It can give birth upto 70 babies at a time.

The deadliest fer-de-lance of all, the golden lancehead lives in only on the island of Quemade. Golden laceheads are said to have killed the last lighthouse keeper on Quemade Grande after gliding into his cottage one night. When the keeper and his family fled, they were killed by more snakes hanging on the trees. Their bodies found scattered across the island.

Reference: Snakes and Reptiles. The Scariest cold-blooded creatures on Earth. Published by Backack books.

Largest King Cobra on Record

2010-12-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

King Cobra is one of the highly venomous snake. It typically grows 12 - 13 ft (3.6-4m). It typically weights about 6kg (13.2 lbs). It is fast and agile despite its size.

The largest King Cobra on record when captured was measured 17 ft 6 in (5.5 m). In 1937, it was captured in Malaysia and sent to London Zoo. It grew to 18ft (5.7m) in the captivity. In 1939, when Word War II began, keepers destroyed the King Cobra. The Zoo keepers were feared it could escape in case The Zoo is bombed.

The King Cobra need not hunt for weeks after one large meal. It is immune to its own kind of venom. It own hurt if one bites another.

Once a zoo keeper foolishly put King Cobra with six other cobras. The next day King Cobra ate all the six other Cobras. King Cobra rarely attacks human, one bite can bring down an elephant.

Take a look at these videos.

King Cobra - The most popular videos are a click away