Reptiles are sexual animals and are the group that introduced internal fertilization to the vertebrate line. Thus, in a manner of speaking, they laid the foundation for the family unit in higher vertebrates, and from this came human society itself, with all its excitement and troubles. The ancestral amphibians deposited their eggs virtually naked in the water, and fertilized them by simply releasing sperm in the general vicinity. The hazards of such an informal operation to both sperm and egg are obvious. The reptilian egg, however, enters the world already fertilized, and packaged against a certain amount of environmental adversity. One need only compare the dozen or so eggs laid by the average lizard with the thousands laid by toads to see the great economy the new method has brought.
But even an egg with a shell is delicate. It can incubate successfully only within a narrow range of conditions of temperature, humidity and concealment. It is thus not surprising to find that a few reptiles have independently hit upon the recourse that we think of as one of the main attributes of the mammals – that of producing living young.
A fertile sea turtle lays round in a hole it has dug in warm, incubating sand of Australia’s Great barrier Reef. When about 100 eggs are laid, it will cover the hole and depart. During one breeding season a mature female will deposit from two to five clutches.
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