Question 9 of 12
Which of these species doesn't lay eggs, but instead gives birth to live young?
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Choose an option from the pictures below:
Correct! This is a canebrake rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus, and like most pit vipers (Crotalidae), they give birth to living young. This mode of reproduction is called ovoviviparity, meaning that the female retains the unshelled eggs inside her uterus until they are ready to "hatch."
Correct! This is a gravid (pregnant) dusky pigmy rattlesnake. At our study sites, they give birth mainly during the month of August.
Correct! This is a brown snake, Storeria dekayi, a member of the family Colubridae, that is a live-bearing species.
Nope! This is a gray rat snake, Elaphe obsoleta spiloides, and this species lays eggs. As in many species of snakes, the number of eggs laid increases as females grow, and may range from only three or four in a small female to over 20 in a large individual in this species.