“The tuatara's most efficient operating temperature seems to be around 12 degrees C. At such low temperatures, the chemistry of an animal's body works very slowly indeed and in consequence, the tuatara has a very lethargic life style. It only breathes about once every seven seconds, even when active, and when resting it may go for an hour without breathing at all. It takes about twenty years to grow to maturity. A female, having started to develop her eggs within her oviduct, needs four years to complete them. Even wrapping a shell around them, which a bird manages in a matter of a few hours, takes her six to eight months. And once her eggs have been laid, they take about fourteen months to hatch-the longest embryonic development of any reptile. Such is life in the slow lane. On the other hand, it is thought that tuataras may live for as much as a hundred and twenty years or more-and that is longer than any known lizard.”