How is it that egg born animals do not have to breathe until they hatch from the egg?

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How is it that egg born animals do not have to breathe until they hatch from the egg?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A similar question could be asked of liveborn creatures, like mammals. Why is it a fetus can survive for months without breathing, then all of a sudden must breathe after birth.

Whether you’re egg-born, or live-born the concept is that your pre-birth state puts you in an environment where everything you need both nutritionally and life-support-wise is provided by your environment.

Fetuses within their mothers receive nutrition and new oxygenated blood through the umbilical cord and surrounding placenta.

Fetuses within laid eggs receive nutrition and new oxygenated blood through, as others have already stated, the porous nature of the egg shell and an air pocket that is created when the warm insides of the egg shrink some after cooling, pulling a vacuum which draws air in through the micro-pores in the shell.

After birth, the fetuses’ behaviors must change to adapt to this new environment called “being a baby”, and breathe and eat and expel waste on their own.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They do have to breathe, they just breathe in the egg. As far as I know after a certain amount of time an air pocket forms in the egg that allows the animal to take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, then that carbon dioxide escapes through loads of tiny pores in the egg and oxygen comes through them. I’m pretty sure that state only lasts a small amount of time compared to the rest of their time in the egg though.

For the rest of the time in the egg I believe they breathe by way of diffusion through the chorioallantoic membrane.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They do breathe. The surface of the egg is porous and allows air through.

One method used to control wild bird populations is to coat the eggs in a sealant that prevents air from getting in and out. This is done instead of simply smashing the eggs as the birds will continue trying to incubate the intact (but dead) eggs, while if the eggs are destroyed they will lay new ones.