Turns out that collectors
in Europe would pay in the region of R25 000 each for these
rare lizards.
Take the endangered New Zealand tuatara
for example.
This lizard-like reptile is the only survivor
of a group that was globally widespread at the time of
the dinosaurs.
The oldest known tuatara fossil is 34
000 years old, but the recent discovery of the fossil
of a lizard-like reptile dating back 18 million years,
has renewed debate over whether the continent was fully
submerged some 25 million years ago.
In a paper published in the journal Proceedings
of the Royal Society B, a team of British, Australian
and New Zealand scientists says its findings offer further
evidence that the ancestors of the tuatara have been on
the landmass since it separated from the rest of the prehistoric
southern super-continent of Gondwana about 82 million
years ago.
Lead author Dr Marc Jones, of University
College London, said: "It has been argued that New
Zealand was completely submerged during the Oligo-Miocene
drowning of the continent some 25 to 22 million years
ago. However, the diversity of fossils now known from
the Miocene suggests it is more likely that enough land
remained above the water to ensure the survival of a number
of species, such as frogs, kauri trees and several modern
freshwater insects, as well as the tuatara."
No wonder then that Hans had the courage
to hide 44 lizards in his underpants.
