THE RAURIMAS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Issue 8, 31 July 1945, Page 8

THE RAURIMAS

HOME OF THE TUATARA REMNANTS OF i AN ANCIENT RjACE How many residents of Whakatane have been, intrigued by the small group of 'islands known as the Rauc rimas which rear their four shaggy promi nances against the steel-blue waters of the Bay of Plenty? How many again, have felt the urge to explore the few acres of land comprising the whole group, or wade across the sandy reefs which connect all but one to a common base? But lioav many realise that on the smallest of all the group lives a colony of New Zealand's odest and most curious iljptile— the Tuatara Lizard? The Tuatara Lizard, is claimed by scientists to be one of the iast re.maining links with the dinnasauric age when the world was populated "bj' dragons in their prime, who tore each other in their slime." Yet only a comparatively few miles off shore, we have the unique possession of a creature known as the en'igma of nature. Though Captain Cook never landed upon these islets, he at least made mention of them in his log, referring to them as "rocky outcrops" which indeed they are. It was left for later explorers to investigate the tales of the Maoris which claimed that the Tuatara, or Sleeping Lizard l'ived over there in abundance » •> and shared the burrows of the indiginous mutton birds. The discovery, as far as can 'be ascertained, was by seafaring whalers, who passed on their knowledge to European scientists in the early fifties. The Raurimas then became, listed, amongst those other few rermote outcrops and promontaries, where the last remaining Tuatara colonies are to be found today. The Raurimas comprise a bare five acres of land, and the smallest inland —call it Tuatara islet for the purpose of this article —would be scarcely half an acre in extent. Its surface is covered with stunted t.itrec—that thick coarse bracken, with which New Zealand coastal strips abound. The Tuatara, whilst plentiful enough, are extremely hard to find, and the casual unacquainted with their habits, might take the trouble to land and de-

Clare the whole story a hoax. A little careful exploration however, reveals these miniature'reptiles browsing in the shade of logs or rocks and standing in almost mummified rigidity in the deserted burrows of the mutton, birds. The strange thing about Tuatara some four years ago was the teeming l'izard population of the smaller and better-known New Zealand varieties. Literally tens of thousands inhabited the clefts and crevaces and to disturb a rock was to see them bounding off to safety in veritable waves. These appeared to be of two varieties. The and most predominant was the common. brown lizard with sleek skin, and the habit of shedding its tail at will. The second was a kind of newt t with almost imperceptible legs and snake-like gait. This lively creature could disappear in almost a Hash when literally leaping from the ground and covering substantial distances to safety. They were distinct from the sluggish and slow-moving Tuatara ? every speciman of which remains in a state of torpor when discovered. The Tuatara is at all times difficult 'to provoke into action of any and appears to live on practically nothing* It is on record, that one visitor (some years brought

four to the mainland for the purpose oi' studying their habits. They remained in his keeping for some months during -which time they neither moved t nor ate any of the various foods which were placed in their barrel. Their escape followed the upsetting of their home and their disappearance has. remained a mystery ever since. Possibly according to our narrator, if they have not become the prey of cats or dogs they are still standing with sphinx-like immobility under some house in Kopeopeo. However, 'once again to our moutons', as the French have and once again we can adjust our focus to the Raurimas, where the remnants of this hoary race are appar-l

ently still basking in the sun, 01 freezing in the cold without any perceptible discomfort to any degree of temperature. What they live is apparently one of those unsolved secrets, which would defy even the Big Three at Potsdam, As- far as can be discovered there is little apart from the meagre vegetation and sea-bird life on which they could subsist. There remains, however a possibility of a seaweed diet from the foreshore, coupled with an occasional mutton bird egg, the latter forming one of the stock English breakfasts—mutton and eggs. The fact remains however that 9 9 all specimans taken seen or studied, have been lusty youngsters- barely two or three hundred years ago, who could be easilv taken for a '9 sound advertisement for the Tomoana meal competition.