Oviparous, ovoviviparous and viviparous animals are a classification with respect to where the embryo develops in each species. In some groups, like the birds, you animals lay eggs. In other organisms, in turn, the egg is incubated and hatches inside the mother's body, and there are also those individuals that develop inside the mother's body, extracting the nutrients they need directly from the maternal body.
Read too: Animal reproduction - can be asexual or sexual
oviparous animals
oviparous animals are those laying eggs. The embryo develops within these structures, which have no connection with the mother's body. In these cases, the embryo is exposed to the environment, which can be dangerous as it is subject to greater predation.
In an attempt to ensure greater reproductive success, oviparous produce several eggs. Sea turtles, for example, lay an average of 130 eggs, a way to ensure that some of their offspring survive.
Examples of oviparous animals
all classes of vertebrates have oviparous representatives, including the mammals. It's important make sure that all birds are exclusively oviparous. Examples of oviparous animals are: chicken, Penguin, some species of fish, sea turtle, frogs, alligator, canary, peacock, platypus, echidna, Spider, butterfly, bee and snail.
ovoviviparous animals
Ovoviviparous animals are those whose embryo develops inside egg, however, this remains in the mother's body. The nutrients that embryos need to develop are taken from the nutrient material in these eggs. When the baby leaves the mother's body, it is already out of the egg. Thus, ovoviviparous animals don't lay their eggs like oviparous. It is important to highlight that, because they are inside the mother's body, the embryos of ovoviviparous animals are more protected than the offspring of oviparous species.
Examples of ovoviviparous animals
Some fish species can be classified as ovoviviparous, such as some sharks, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates, like some aphids, cockroaches and flies.
Know more: Whale shark – the biggest fish in the world!
Viviparous animals
Viviparous animals are those whose puppies have embryonic development inside the mother's body, receiving the nutrients they need for their development directly from the mother's body. Humans are live-bearing animals, and during our development we receive nutrients via the placenta. In addition to ensuring the nutrition of the embryo, the placenta acts in gas exchange, in the removal of metabolic waste and in immunological protection.
Examples of livebearing animals
Most mammals are viviparous, including humans. In addition to most mammals, some species of amphibians, reptiles (viviparity is observed only in some representatives of the order squamata), fish and even some insects, like some aphids, are viviparous.
Read more: Platypuso – oviparous and exotic animal that lives exclusively in Australia
Exercise on oviparous, ovoviviparous and viviparous animals
As seen throughout the text, animals can be classified, according to how the embryo develops, in: viviparous, ovoviviparous and oviparous. On these development patterns, mark the wrong alternative:
a) Human beings are live-bearing animals, since their development takes place inside the mother's body, in which the embryo is able to obtain the nutrients necessary for its survival.
b) Oviparous animals lay their eggs in the external environment.
c) Oviparous animals take nutrients for their development from the eggs in which they develop.
d) In ovoviviparous species, the development of the embryo takes place inside the mother's body, from which it takes its nutrients.
e) There are oviparous mammals, this being the case of the platypus.
FEEDBACK:
Right answer: Letter D. Although the development of the offspring of ovoviviparous species takes place inside the mother's body, the embryo is inside an egg, from which it takes nutrients.
