Lizards Help Us Find Out Which Came First: The Baby Or The Egg?

By Oliver Griffith, University of SydneyHave you ever wondered why we give birth to live young rather than lay eggs? Scientists have pondered this for a long time and answers have come from an unlikely source: some of Australia’s lizards and snakes!In research published this month in the American Naturalist, my colleagues and I at the University of Sydney studied reptile pregnancy to identify the factors necessary for a placenta to evolve.Although most reptiles lay eggs, live birth has evolved many times in the group of reptiles that includes lizards and snakes. read more

Read the whole article on

More from