Hard? Soft? Scrambled? Just kidding on that last one. But seriously, eggs come in so many varieties, it’s hard to keep track of them all. Although birds are usually synonymous with eggs, there are plenty of other animals that do it just as well, both vertebrate and invertebrate species. Reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, spiders, jellyfish, even mammals! In this lesson we will investigate a variety of egg-layers and the types of eggs they lay.
Egg-laying, or oviparity, is a great adaptation for many species. In most cases, the mother lays LOTS of eggs, which she wouldn’t be able to carry inside her. Laying LOTS of eggs means there’s a greater chance that some of the babies will survive and go on to have babies of their own someday, which keeps the species from going extinct. In addition, egg-layers can be more mobile, as they don’t have added baby weight to carry around.