Question

Could the number of eggs or young ones produced by an oviparous and viviparous female be equal ? Why?

Answer 1

The number of eggs that in general any oviparous mother produces will always be much more in number than young ones that a viviparous mother gives birth to. One of the reasons is because the younger ones for oviparous animals takes place outside the body of the mother.

Another major reasons is that for oviparous mothers, the eggs may easily fall prey to external predators or climatic conditions. The loss is generally overcome by the mothers in nature by producing more number of eggs, as compared to young ones.

This also means that even if the eggs face harsh conditions still some of them have better chances of survival. In Viviparous mothers the young ones are developed and protected inside the mother’s body. So the eggs do not have to face any harsh climatic conditions or natural predators till the time of birth.

Answer 2

Could the number of eggs or young ones produced by an oviparous and viviparous female will not be equal; rather the young ones produced by an oviparous mother will be more.

This is so because unlike the viviparous mothers whose young ones develop within her body, in case of an oviparous mother the young ones develop outside her body.