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Viviparous Snakes
Name: Faith
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
What are some types of viviparous snakes?
Replies:
Hi Faith!
OK...let's see...there are several snakes families that are viviparous
although the majority are oviparous:
Family Uropeltidiae: 45 species from Burma, Indochina, India and
Sri Lanka, viviparous
Family Boidae: 63 species (boas, phytons and sand boas) coming
from North,Central and South America , Africa, Middle East,India
and Australia; most are viviparous
Family Viperidiae: 200 venous species from all the world except
Australia and Antarctica, most are viviparous
Family Elapidiae: 280 species, the ones that come from Africa and
Australia are viviparous
Family Columbridae: 1700 species, some are viviparous
The other snakes families are oviparous or ovoviviparous.
Thanks for asking NEWTON!
Mabel
(Dr. Mabel Rodrigues)
The articvle above is correct and answers the question correctly.
However, there have been some inquiries about the fact that there are three
families of snakes when it comes to the production of young.
Definitions:
1) Oviparous means that the female snake lay eggs that hatch after laying.
2) Viviparous means that the female does not develop enclosed eggs and
gives birth to live young.
This third type is missing in the above discussion.
3) Ovoviviparous means that the females develop and retain the eggs within
their body and the babies hatch from these eggs inside the mother.
Viviparous and ovoviviparous are not obvious since the results are the same
in that the yound are seen as live birth.
Steve Sample
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Update: June 2012
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