The tuatara (Sphendon punctatus) is a spectacular reptile that only lives in New Zealand. Often called the living dinosaur, the tuatara has resisted both extinction and change. The tuatara is the only survivor of the reptilian order Sphehodontia. Evolutionary biologists believe that it lived together with early dinosaurs in the Upper Triassic some 200 million years ago.

Recently, researchers found an interesting detail about the tuatara. David Lambert and his colleagues at the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution analysed DNA sequences they found in the bones of tuatara estimated to be 8000 years old.

They published their findings in the journal Trends in Genetics. As reported by EurekAlert and LiveScience, their discoveries were astounding: they found that the tuatara is the fastest evolving animal. “What we found was that the tuatara has the highest molecular evolutionary rate anyone has measured,” professor Lambert says according to EurekAlert. Lambert’s study suggests that the tuatara has been evolving faster that animals like the cave bear, lion, ox or horse.

So how can an animal that has shown no signs of change for aeons be changing faster than many others? Professor Lambert says, “the rate of molecular evolution was uncoupled from the rate of morphological evolution.” In other words, inner change or change at the molecular level does not correspond to what we see on the outside.

Yet evolutionary theory predicted that slow change or no change would have corresponded to slow change or no change at the molecular level. Far from supporting the neo-Darwinian theory of molecules-to-man evolution, the “living dinosaur” shows that there are grave problems with the view.

Like other living fossils such as the crocodile, army ant, cockroach, Coelacanth and horseshoe crab, the tuatara is evidence for resistance to the type of change that Darwinian evolution desperately needs.

Some animal species have a history of incredible change. The dog (Canis lupus familiaris), which according to Linnean classification belongs to the same species as the gray wolf (Canis lupus), is capable of an enormous amount of variety, brought about by artificial selection. But this is not the kind of change that evolution in its neo-Darwinian sense requires.

And neither is the variety evident in the DNA of a reptile that has resisted change for a very long time.

Decorating a child’s room is something that almost all children want to do at least once during their childhood. Some of them want it at a younger age than others, but it seems that everyone wants to express themselves by decorating their room and making it their own. Younger children will need directions along the way and maybe even help in toning down their plans to something that is feasible and doesn’t require a bank loan. Water-slides and basketball courts are nice to use, but putting one in a bedroom is probably out of the question for most homes.

Good guidance for younger children is to decorate around a theme that interests them and then add color schemes and maybe other furniture from there. There a number of different ways to go and movie characters or cartoon favorites have a lot of merchandise available for purchase, but can become dated very quickly. Generally, unless you love re-decorating yourself you want to guide the child top a theme that will last several years, not only is one of the television season.

Nature or science themes are a popular choice and dinosaur bedding seems to stand the test of time. Dinosaurs themselves have been extinct for millions of years that they still conjure up dreams of living with dinosaurs and have provided the basis for several very popular movies. Dinosaur bedding for boys, like any bedding for boys, may suffer a hard life as the rest of the things in the room, but if it spurs on an interest in science than it is worth it.

Sports or animal subjects are always a good choice too as many children have favorite pets and love playing sports. Again bedding decorated after these themes should be widely available and hopefully stand up to the wear and tear that children will give it, before they outgrow it.