Animals That Lay Eggs
From the tiniest hummingbird to the ancient platypus, egg-laying spans the animal kingdom. Explore species grouped by their taxonomic class.
Albatross
Diomedea exulans
A single large white egg with faint reddish-brown spots, laid in a mound nest of…
Cassowary
Casuarius casuarius
Striking bright green eggs — among the most vivid of any bird species. Large and…
Chicken
Gallus gallus domesticus
Smooth, hard-shelled eggs ranging from white to brown to blue-green depending on…
Cuckoo
Cuculus canorus
Remarkably mimics the host species' eggs in color and pattern. The cuckoo egg is…
Duck
Anas platyrhynchos domesticus
Slightly larger than chicken eggs with a thicker shell and a larger, richer yolk…
Emu
Dromaius novaehollandiae
Stunning dark green to nearly black eggs with a textured, granulated shell surfa…
Flamingo
Phoenicopterus roseus
A single chalky white egg laid on a cone-shaped mud mound nest that the parents …
Goose
Anser anser domesticus
Very large eggs (about 3x the size of a chicken egg) with a thick, white shell a…
Guillemot
Uria aalge
Dramatically pointed (pyriform) eggs with wildly variable coloring — blue, green…
Hummingbird
Mellisuga helenae
The smallest bird eggs in existence: white, oval, about the size of a coffee bea…
Kiwi
Apteryx mantelli
Enormous relative to body size — the egg is about 20% of the female's body weigh…
Malleefowl
Leipoa ocellata
Large, thin-shelled, pinkish-white eggs buried in a composting mound of leaf lit…
Ostrich
Struthio camelus
The largest egg of any living bird: glossy, cream-white, with a thick shell that…
Penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri
A single pear-shaped, pale greenish-white egg. Relatively small for the bird's b…
Quail
Coturnix coturnix japonica
Tiny, speckled eggs about 1/5 the size of a chicken egg. The shell has a distinc…
Turkey
Meleagris gallopavo
Large, pointed eggs with a cream to tan shell covered in brown speckles. Roughly…
Ball Python
Python regius
Soft, leathery, white, slightly adhesive eggs that stick together in a clump. Th…
Green Iguana
Iguana iguana
Soft, leathery, white eggs about the size of a small plum, laid in burrows dug u…
King Cobra
Ophiophagus hannah
White, leathery eggs laid in a nest of leaves and vegetation that the female con…
Komodo Dragon
Varanus komodoensis
Soft, leathery eggs about the size of a grapefruit, laid in burrows or commandee…
Saltwater Crocodile
Crocodylus porosus
White, hard-shelled eggs slightly larger than a chicken egg, laid in a large mou…
Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
Soft, leathery, white, spherical eggs about the size of a ping-pong ball. Laid i…
Tokay Gecko
Gekko gecko
Hard-shelled, round, white eggs that are glued to walls, rocks, or tree bark. Un…
Veiled Chameleon
Chamaeleo calyptratus
Small, white, oval, soft-shelled eggs buried in moist soil. The clutch is surpri…
Caecilian
Siphonops annulatus
Large, yolky eggs (relative to body size) laid in underground burrows near water…
Fire Salamander
Salamandra salamandra
Unlike most salamanders, fire salamanders are ovoviviparous — eggs develop and h…
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
Agalychnis callidryas
Tiny, transparent, jelly-like eggs laid in clutches on the underside of leaves o…
Clownfish
Amphiprion ocellaris
Tiny, bright orange, capsule-shaped eggs attached in neat rows to a flat rock su…
Seahorse
Hippocampus kuda
Tiny, orange, pear-shaped eggs deposited by the female into the male's ventral b…
Sockeye Salmon
Oncorhynchus nerka
Translucent orange-red spherical eggs, about 6mm in diameter, deposited in grave…