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Daily Press: Birding: Hard-shelled eggs are the secret to birds’ success
Summary
Biology professor Dan Cristol wrote a piece for the Daily Press.
Full Description
"The avian egg is an evolutionary marvel. Easter brought egg-dying and egg hunts. A lot of fun for the kids but not what the chickens had in mind.
Fish and amphibian eggs are soft and unshelled and must float in the water in order to get enough oxygen and expel their waste. The reptilian egg, with a special membrane for safely storing waste, allowed occupation of land. But the soft shell means that reptiles are limited to laying their eggs in loose, moist soil with plenty of oxygen. They are prone to invasion by microbes, drying and of course, being dug up by raccoons."