top of page

Everyone's Talking About....Ovoviviparity, Oviparity, and Viviparity



Animals show different methods of production of young ones. Oviparous and viviparous are such two methods. The main difference between oviparous and viviparous animals is that oviparous animals do not undergo any embryonic development inside the mother whereas viviparous animals develop into a young animal inside the mother. This means oviparous animals lay eggs. These eggs develop and hatch into young individuals. In contrast, viviparous animals are born as live young individuals. Therefore, they do not lay eggs. Birds, reptiles, amphibians, most fish, insects, mollusks, arachnids, and monotremes are oviparous animals. Most mammals are viviparous animals. The key difference between oviparity, ovoviviparity and viviparity is that oviparity is the trait of laying eggs, while ovoviviparity is the development of embryos inside eggs that are retained within the mother’s body until they are ready to hatch, and viviparity is giving birth to young ones directly.

There are different modes of reproduction among animals in the Kingdom Animalia. Some animals lay eggs. In contrast, some animals give birth to young ones directly. Oviparity, ovoviviparity and viviparity are several modes of reproduction. Oviparity is a mode of reproduction in which animals lay eggs. Ovoviviparity is a mode in which animals lay eggs and keep them inside the mother’s body until hatching. Viviparity is the mode of reproduction in which animals directly give birth to young ones.

What is Oviparity? Oviparity refers to a mode of reproduction in which animals lay eggs. These eggs are released to the external environment. Thus, the embryos develop outside the mother’s body. Here, the egg yolk nourishes the developing embryo. Since the eggs are released to the environment, they possess a hard shell to protect from damages. Oviparous animals show internal fertilization. But their embryo development takes place externally. What is Ovoviviparity? Ovoviviparity refers to the laying of eggs and keeping them inside the mother animal’s body until they are hatched. In other words, ovoviviparity is a mode of reproduction in which embryos develop inside eggs that are retained within the mother’s body until they are ready to hatch. Ovoviviparous animals show internal fertilization. Moreover, they give birth to young ones. However, their embryos do not have a placental connection. Therefore, this mode of reproduction is also known as aplacental viviparity. In ovoviviparity, the developing embryo is nourished by the egg yolk.

What is Viviparity? Viviparity refers to the mode of reproduction in which animals directly give birth to young ones. Therefore, viviparous animals give birth to young ones without laying eggs. The fertilization takes place internally inside the female organism. Moreover, the embryo has a placental connection and gets the nourishment from the mother. The fetus development occurs inside the womb of the mother, and once it completes the development, the mother delivers the offspring. Mammals including humans, dogs, cats and elephants, etc. are viviparous. Moreover, some fish, reptiles and amphibians are viviparous.

The Similarities Between Oviparity Ovoviviparity and Viviparity ·Oviparity, ovoviviparity, and viviparity are three modes of reproduction seen in animals. ·Fertilization is an important event occurring in all three modes. ·In all three processes, the zygote develops into an embryo.

The Differences Between Oviparity Ovoviviparity and Viviparity Oviparity is the mode of reproduction in which animals lay eggs, and the embryos develop externally. Ovoviviparity is another mode of reproduction in which animals lay eggs and develop the eggs inside the mother’s body. Viviparity, on the other hand, refers to giving birth to young ones directly. So, this is the key difference between oviparity ovoviviparity and viviparity. Furthermore, oviparous animals show both external and internal fertilization, while ovoviviparous and viviparous animals show internal fertilization. Moreover, the embryo develops externally in oviparity, while embryo develops internally in ovoviviparity and viviparity. Therefore, this is another difference between oviparity ovoviviparity and viviparity. Oviparous animals lay eggs covered with hard shells to produce young ones. Ovoviviparous animals produce eggs and keep them inside the mother’s body until the fetus develops completely and is ready to hatch. On the other hand, viviparous animals directly give birth to young ones. So, this is the key difference between oviparity ovoviviparity and viviparity. In oviparity, the embryo develops externally while in ovoviviparity and viviparity, the embryo develops internally. Moreover, Oviparous animals show both internal and external fertilization, while ovoviviparous and viviparous animals show internal fertilization.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Oviparity, Ovoviparity and Viviparity Oviparous animals undergo all embryotic development outside of their parent’s body. The female lays her eggs with exposure to the external environment instead of retaining them internally. This method of reproduction requires less energy, as the developing embryo depends completely on a concentration of nutrients within the egg called the yolk. This allows more eggs to be produced in some cases, but this lack of parental investment also reduces the offspring’s likelihood of survival. Viviparous animals develop embryonically within the body of their mother. All nutrients are received from the mother by diffusion from her circulatory system. After development, live birth takes place. This process is much more energy-expensive than oviparity. Although this often leads to a lower number of offspring produced, higher parental investment allows them to have higher survival rates. Animals that are ovoviparous undergo embryotic development within their mother’s body, but do not have access to her circulatory system. Instead, the embryo develops within an independent egg and feeds off an independent yolk. The egg hatches while the offspring is still within the mother and the young animal then makes its way out into the open environment, giving the appearance of live birth. This process uses an intermediate amount of energy, and therefore also produces an intermediate amount of offspring with an intermediate survival probability on average. The advantages of viviparous is reproduction system that has been considered superior with own reproductive strategies.The young one gets better nourishment and good shelf life. They have their own system.They produce the young one instead of egg. Another advantage of ovoviviparity is that the offspring are advanced in their development when they are born live, thus the juveniles are more likely to fend for themselves in the wild. A disadvantage of ovoviviparity is that fewer individuals are born and it takes more emery for the females to carry the eggs inside.


Written by TISOVN Student Eric Jeremiah

27,737 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page