There are two groups of herps that most people never see in their whole lives. One is the caecilians (suh-SILL-ee-uns), and the other is the tuatara (too-uh-TAR-uh). Older books sometimes list a third group, the worm lizards, but scientists have since figured out that worm lizards are just very unusual lizards. There is only one species of tuatara, and it lives only in New Zealand. It looks like a lizard, but it is not one. It is the last surviving member of an entirely separate group of reptiles that was common back when dinosaurs walked the Earth. Everything else in that group is gone.
This lesson is part of Certified Junior Herpetologist. Enrollment is self-paced, with no deadline to finish (about 30 hours).
