Viviparous Animals

Viviparous is a Latin word that originated from ‘’Vivus-means alive/life + pario- means give birth’’. These animals directly give rise birth to their offspring. Fertilization takes place inside the female body, and the female has a special organ, e.g., the Uterus in the case of humans, where the development and nourishment of the embryo take place (this condition is also known as matrotrophy). These organisms nourish the foetus with their body food reserves. They mostly reproduce once a year; some of them have breeding seasons, e.g., Dogs and cattle, and some can reproduce throughout the year, e.g., Human. Most of the viviparous organisms belong to the taxa vertebrate, while some examples have also been seen in some invertebrates. 

The animal world is flooded with a lot of diversity. One can easily see these differences by comparing two individuals of different phylum (or even in the case of orders) if we talk about Fertilization (The fusion of male and female gametes). We can see some marked differences. On a broad basis, Fertilization can be of two types:

• External Fertilization: – Sperm and egg meet outside the female body through different modes, e.g., Frogs, fishes, etc.
• Internal fertilization: – Sperm and egg meet inside the female body, e.g., Human, cattle, Dog, etc.
  • A marked difference can also be seen in the later development of these organisms. In the case of Internal fertilization, the organisms can broadly be classified into three categories. 
    • Oviparous
    • Viviparous,
    • Ovoviviparous