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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: "Living Dinosaur" Is Fastest-Evolving Animal


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The tuatara, New Zealand's "living dinosaur," is evolving faster than any animal studied to date, experts say.

This unexpected speed—despite the reptile's slow metabolism and maturation—supports a theory that physical and molecular evolution are not linked, experts say.

Photograph courtesy Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media