It's An Egg-cident Trivia Quiz

Answer: ovology

Ovology is a branch of zoology (the study of animals) which deals with the study of eggs. While most people think of it in relation to birds' eggs, it also studies other egg-producing species, such as fish and reptiles.

The term oology was also formerly used to describe the study of eggs, but more specifically referred to the hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs (a practice which is now illegal in many places). Ovology includes the study of the breeding habits of birds, and the study of their nests, as well as the actual eggs.

Answer: oviparous

Oviparous animals are animals that lay eggs, with little or no other development within the mother.

A few fish, such as most sharks, are ovoviviparous - the eggs are fertilized and develop internally, but still with no direct nourishment from the mother. Some, however, such as the hammerhead shark, are viviparous - the egg develops internally, but with the mother also providing direct nourishment. Most mammals are viviparous, giving birth to live young.

Answer: ostrich

An average ostrich egg has a mass of about 1.5 kg (3 lbs), making it the largest egg produced by a living species. The extinct elephant bird (formerly native to Madagascar) produced larger eggs - up to a meter (3 ft) in circumference, and 34 cm (13 in) in length! The New Zealand kiwi lays the largest egg in proportion to its body size of all current species.

The bee hummingbird produces the smallest bird egg, approximately half a gram. Some reptiles, most fish and all insects produce eggs that are smaller than that.

Answer: white

Birds whose nests are in holes (in trees or in the ground) usually have white eggs, with no extra coloration. Birds which build nests in trees usually have blue or green eggs, and birds which build nests in bushes close to the ground commonly have red or brown eggs, often speckled to provide increased camouflage.

Answer: they each have different patterns marking the shells

Each female's eggs have distinctive markings. While this can include variations in color, the different pattern of the speckling is much more significant in allowing an oologist (and a mother bird) to identify the eggs that belong to the same clutch.

Answer: brood parasitism

Brood parasitism is associated with cowbirds and a number of members of the cuckoo family. The brood parasite is freed from the task of hatching the eggs and feeding the young. Sometimes the brood parasite removes the original eggs, sometimes the eggs share the nest.

The young parasitic bird may also eliminate the youngsters who were the original inhabitants of the nest. A cuckoo female will usually only lay her eggs in the nests of a single other species, one whose eggs match hers in color. Since different females produce differently-colored eggs, they spread their parasitic attentions around the other species in the area.

Answer: monotremata

There are only a few species in the order of monotremata, commonly referred to as monotremes: four species of echidna, and the platypus. They are the only mammals which lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Monotreme eggs are leathery, and resemble reptilian eggs. Being mammals, they do suckle their young, but through milk patches on the skin - monotremes do not have nipples. Monotremes are also the only mammals known to have a sense of electro-reception, which means they can detect electric fields produced by muscular contractions to help them in locating their prey.

Answer: spawning

The female fish may scatter the eggs or deposit them carefully. Species that scatter the eggs typically have small eggs, and distribute many eggs at once, sometimes in the millions. After the male has fertilized them, they develop without parental attention - sometimes the parents will even eat them! These fish develop and hatch quickly.

When they hatch, they often carry the residue of the yolk in a yolk sac which continues to provide nourishment for the first few days of the fish's life, by which time they must have worked out how to find food for themselves.

Some species which deposit their eggs subsequently care for them, some do not.

Answer: temperature

While some reptiles are viviparous (bear live young), most lay eggs which may have a hard or a leathery shell. A number of species, most commonly turtles and crocodiles, show temperature-dependent sex determination, meaning that the incubation temperature determines whether each egg hatches as a male or female. Cooler temperatures tend to favor males.

This phenomenon is also seen in some birds, such as the Australian brush-turkey.

Answer: Darwin's frog

After the female Darwin's frog deposits a clutch of 30-40 eggs in leaf litter, the male fertilizes them, and guards them as they develop. Around three weeks later, as the tadpoles start wriggling inside the eggs, the male transfers them to his vocal sac with his tongue.

There they hatch and begin the process of metamorphosis, being nourished by the remainder of the egg yolks and by secretions produced by the adult male frog. They emerge when they are about 1 cm long, and the vocal sac returns to its normal size.