I Learned This While Discussing Energy

Biology time! There are three terms for creatures that birth living young, viviparous, oviparous, ovoviviparous.

Viviparous creatures give birth to walking, squawking, living young. Think vi- as in vibrant, bright, living. Oviparous creatures lay eggs with living creatures in them. Think ov- as in ovum, oval, egg. That one's not too crazy, but get this: ovoviviparous creatures, aside from being fun to name, lay their egg babies inside themselves, then hatch them internally. It seems then, that that super fun prefix, ovovivi- means living and egg combined.


I asked my master, after learning this lesson, if all the animals who give birth are women. He was practically answering it before I asked, and told me one of my favorite facts, which I already partially knew. Seahorses are the only exception. Except they have an exception too, which is that the males don't actually make the egg, their lady friends do. After the egg is made, the papa seahorse goes over to the mama seahorse and is like, "Hey, why don't you let me take that egg off your tail and go buy yourself something sweet?"