Viviparous definition

A viviparous animal is an animal that develops an embryo inside the body of the female, resulting in the live birth of a young one.

• The embryo develops in special organs within the body of the female where the mother provides necessary nutrients to the embryo.
• Viviparous animals are present in all groups of vertebrates except birds. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals all have members that are viviparous even though none of the groups is exclusively viviparous.
• It has been assumed that viviparity developed from oviparity where the egg stayed inside the female for longer, causing it to hatch into a young one.
• Nutrition in different viviparous animals differs as some primitive animals have a yolk sac that provides nutrients to the embryo. In contrast, in others, the embryo develops into larvae inside the mother feeding on secretions from the reproductive parts of the mother.
• In mammals, however, the mother provides nutrients to the newborn via the secretions of the mammary glands.
• Viviparous animals reproduce sexually via internal fertilization as the embryo develops inside the body of the mother.
• Viviparous animals are also advanced in that they can carry the developing young ones with the mother from areas with many predators.
• Similarly, viviparous animals can also reproduce any time of the year as they can feed the embryo with the fat reserves in the body.
• However, viviparity might be very tiring for the mother as it might cause severe damage to the reproductive parts during birth.
• Parental care after birth differs in different viviparous animals where some mammals like humans look after the young ones while some salamanders show no parental care at all.
• In some cases, complications during childbirth might even risk the life of the mother.
• Examples of viviparous animals include humans, bears, giraffes, cattle, some sharks, salamanders, some frogs, etc.