What are the ovoviviparous animals

Ovoviviparous animals are a class of animals that are born from eggs, eggs that remain inside the mother until just before hatching. Ovoviparity or ovoviparity is, therefore, a mixture between oviparous (animals that lay eggs to reproduce) and viviparism (animals that develop within the body of the mother). They are, in short, an example of genetic evolution based on survival. As nature is so wise and we know that it does not stop surprising you, in .com we explain to you what are the ovoviviparous animals .

Ovoviviparous fish

Despite its resemblance to whales or dolphins, the shark is not a mammal, but a fish. And they are incredible fish, there are some anyway: viviparous, oviparous and ovoviviparous.

The majority of fish generate a large quantity of small eggs that they deposit in places that they consider safe for their young, waiting for the male to fecunda them by spraying them with their sperm. But this technique is not very effective, since most eggs die shortly and newborn larvae have a very low survival rate due to predators and environmental conditions.

That's why some sharks and other fish such as Mantarraya, Guppys, Mollys and Plattys have opted for a more intelligent form of reproduction: ovoviparity. As in viviparous animals, the eggs are internally fertilized and are well protected inside the females that nourish them through a placenta just like mammals.

Ovoviviparous snakes

Like sharks, snakes also have the three modes of gestation and birth (oviparous, viviparous, ovoviviparous) The velvet snake, for example, is viviparous.The offspring of this very poisonous specimen are born alive from the mother, who can give birth an average of 30 babies after a pregnancy that lasts between 180 and 240 days, but once the female is born she does not take care of the babies: from the first day of her life the velvet snake is dedicated to hunting.

The coral snake, another extremely poisonous species, is an oviparous snake. The mother lays eggs in a place she considers appropriate and waits for eggs to be excluded in the middle of nature, with all the risks that this entails. If you want to read more about poisonous animals you will be interested in our article which is the most poisonous animal in the world.

For its part, the boa constrictor, one of the largest snakes in the world (it can weigh 30 kilograms and measure up to 4 meters) is ovoviviparous. In the interior, the mother keeps the eggs for 7 months and can give birth to 25 young.

But if we talk about which are the largest ovoviviparous snakes, the number 1 post is for the anaconda . Up to 200 kilograms in weight and 12 meters in length, the also known as boa de agua maintains a gestation of the eggs for 6 months and can reach 50 babies.

Other reptiles and amphibians

There are also some species of chameleons that are ovoviviparous and have a gestation of between 5 and 7 months.

The toad of surinam (or pipe pipe), finally, is an extremely rare species of amphibian, although not only because it is ovoviviparous, but because of the flatness and grayness of its appearance. And their strangeness does not end there. Unlike other ovoviviparous animals, this amphibian does not carry the eggs inside, but creates a layer of transparent secondary skin on the back to deposit them and take them safely to all sides. On your back you can carry between 60 and 100 babies!

If you want to know more about strange species, you may be interested in the .com article. What are the 10 rarest animals in the world?

Insects

Nor do all flies lay eggs. Some of the species of this insect so common and annoying are ovoviviparous (the larvae do not see the light until they hatch), like the fly tachinidae, insects a little larger than house flies and that inhabit the entire planet.

Other ovoviviparous insects are many species of beetles such as the metallic beetle .