Tuatara have walked the earth for over 200 million years, but their future is looking shaky with new research suggesting climate change is threatening the existence of the species.
The New Zealand natives walked with the dinosaurs and are among the oldest reptiles in the world, but the research shows that in less then 100 years tuatara may walk no more.
Nicola Nelson from Victoria University says researchers believe that global warming will lead to more males being born.
The sex of tuatara offspring is determined by temperature and the warmer it is the more likely it is that the offspring will be male. With the globe warming up it's predicted in 80 years only males will be on the production line.
And adding to the trouble is the tuatara's lack of libido.
"They take about 20 years to reproduce and on this island we think they are breeding about every nine years... so very, very slow rates of reproduction," Nicola Mitchell from the University of Western Australia says.
With modern technology tuatara eggs can be incubated to produce females but the process is very labour intensive.
"I'd like to see tuatara doing for themselves," says Nelson.
There are about 100,000 tuatara left, and most are confined to small islands. But a shift back to the mainland to cooler climates could help keep female numbers up.
Tuatara have survived climate change in the past and it is hoped they can survive it again.
"They have seen a lot of climate change and we don't know everything about them so they've obviously got the capacity to deal with climate change," says Nelson.
