Dr Prem Life Improving Logo-R

Robotic-reptile to help study one of the most ancient reptile’s behaviors

ancient reptiles territorial behaviors 9To quench the thirst of the researchers’ impertinent minds, they eventually come up with innovations. In a bid to understand the territorial behavior of the tuatara — one of the most ancient and rare reptile species on Earth – researchers have placed one of their wild cousins in the wild of Stephens Island in New Zealand.

With the last species in a family dating back 200 million years, it isn’t possible to release a real-life version of the reptile.

The cousin is a blessing of the happening technology – it is a robot reptile, with skin made of rubber, and not scales! Its ‘heart’ is a nickel-cadmium battery.

The very special alpha male — Robo-Ollie – would help researchers find out how male tuatara establish dominance and attract and keep females.

These studies would not just be interesting and new for the researchers, but will also help them understand the reptiles’ critical behaviors, which in turn would assist them in the tuatara’s translocation and captive-breeding programs.

Hope, the tuatara’s robotic cousin would help guide conservation managers to the genetically fittest, most productive males.

Image

Recent Articles:

Scroll to Top