25 Adorable Hatchlings That Are Too Cute For Their Own Good

Pythons are normally regarded with fear by most people. Found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the USA (as an invasive species) pythons are among the largest snakes in the world. However, in spite of their notorious reputation for being able to eat pretty much anything, a baby python is surprisingly cute.

The red-winged blackbird is a passerine bird living in North and Central America. Females lay a clutch of three or four, rarely five, eggs to a nest which is usually located just a few inches above water. The eggs are incubated by the female alone, and hatch in 11 to 12 days. Red-winged blackbirds are hatched blind and naked.

Clownfish are recognized by their striking orange, white, and black coloration (though different color variations exist); and also by their symbiotic relationship to sea anemones. These beautiful fishes lay hundreds or thousands of eggs on any flat surface that is close to their anemone host which hatch about six to ten days later.

Members of this genus live in the arid, rocky, semi-desert regions and dry open woodlands of Australia. Males grow up to 60 cm (24 in) long, and females up to 50 cm (20 in). Females usually lay 10 – 35 eggs. Thanks to their calm and friendly nature, they are often kept as pets.

Lobsters are large marine crustaceans with a hard protective exoskeleton. They can live up to 60 years which allows them to reach impressive sizes. The largest lobster ever caught weighed over 20 kilograms (44 lb). When female releases eggs through her oviducts, they are fertilized by stored sperm. They are then attached to the female’s swimmerets using an adhesive, where they are cared for until they are ready to hatch.

Formerly known as the Louisiana Heron, the medium sized, Tricolored heron is distinguished by its long legs, long neck, long yellow or greyish bill with a black tip, and it’s slate blue feather on most of its body.

Marginated tortoises are the largest species of tortoises in Europe weighing up to 5 kg (11 pounds). With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is also one of the longest-lived vertebrates. Females lay up to 15 spherical, hard-shelled eggs as many as three times per summer. The incubation period for one these eggs is on average around 100 days.

Named from the narrow black band under its head, the Chinstrap penguin is a species of penguin that inhabits a variety of islands and shores in the Southern Pacific and the Antarctic Ocean. The most famous of these penguin are two male Chinstraps named Roy and Silo housed at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. They are known for forming a pair-bond and attempting to “hatch” a rock (later replaced with a real egg with actually hatched).

Found in forests from India through Southeast Asia, the king cobra is the world’s longest venomous snake reaching up to 5.7 m (19 feet) in length. The king cobra is unusual among snakes in that the female king cobra is a very dedicated and careful parent. Females usually lay 20 to 40 eggs into the mound, which acts as an incubator. 45 to 55 cm (18 to 22 inches) long baby cobras hatch after 60 to 90 days.

Native to Africa, the ostrich is a large flightless bird notable for its long neck and legs, and the ability to run as fast as 70 kilometers per hour (40 mph). The female ostrich lays her eggs in a huge single communal nest. Every hen can distinguish her own eggs from the others in the nest. The chicks hatch after 35 to 45 days.

Officially known as Platymantis vitiensis, the Fiji tree frog is one of two endemic frogs in Fiji. It is a locally common species that lives in moist tropical lowland forests. Females lay around up to 60 eggs inside prepared nests. Embryonic development occurs around 30 days and the froglets hatch directly from these eggs forgoing to the tadpole stage.

This African crocodile is the second largest extant reptile in the world, after the saltwater crocodile. On average, the Nile crocodile is between 4.1 meters (13 ft) to 5 meters (16 ft) long, but specimens measuring up to 6.1 meters (20 ft) in length and weighing 907 kg (2,000 lb) have been recorded. Female lay between 25 and 80 eggs. At birth, the hatchlings are just about 30 cm (12 in) long.

Echidna is one of four extant species that are the only extant mammals to lay eggs. Endemic to Australia and New Guinea, echidnas evidently evolved between 20 and 50 million years ago. The female lays a single leathery egg 22 days after mating, and deposits it into her pouch. Hatching takes place after 10 days. The young echidna then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches and remains in the pouch for 45 to 55 days, at which time it starts to develop spines.

Currently there are 6 species of these wading birds. Flamingos are very social birds; they live in colonies whose population can number into the thousands. They aggressively defend their nesting sites and eggs and after the chicks hatch, both the male and the female feed them.

Hermann’s tortoises are small to medium-sized tortoises native to southern Europe. Between May and July, females deposit between 2 and 12 eggs into flask-shaped nests dug into the soil. The pinkish-white eggs are incubated for around 90 days and, like with many reptiles, the temperature at which the eggs are incubated determines the hatchlings sex.

Golden eagle is the most widely distributed species of eagle in the world. Their clutches have been recorded range in size from 1 to 4 eggs, though two is the norm with an incubation period of about 41 to 45 days. The golden eagle chick may be heard from within the egg 15 hours before it begins hatching.

The’re approximately 160 known species of chameleon which come in a range of colors, and patterns. Chameleons are famous for their independently mobile eyes and their ability to change their colors. Chameleon eggs generally hatch after 4 to 12 months, depending on species but the eggs of Parson’s chameleon, a species which is rare in captivity, are believed to take more than 24 months to hatch.

Native to the Bering Sea, red king crab is the most coveted of the commercially sold king crab species. Despite the tiny babies, they can grow to a leg span of 1.8 m (5.9 ft) and their carapace can be as wide as 28 cm (11 in). It was named after the color it turns when it is cooked rather than the color of a living animal.

There are only two living alligator species now – the American alligator and the Chinese alligator. The sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature in the nest and is fixed within 7 to 21 days of the start of incubation. If the temperature is lower than 86 °F (30 °C), it will be a clutch of females. If it is of 93 °F (34 °C) or higher, it will produce entirely males.

Swans are among the largest members of waterfowl as well as flying birds. They usually mate for life, though “divorce” does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure. The number of eggs in each clutch ranges from three to eight.

Endemic to eastern Australia, platypus is a semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal. The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists to such extent that some of them considered the animal an elaborate hoax.

The hognose snakes are characterized by an upturned snout and an extremely variable color and pattern. The largest of the hognose snakes can reach lengths of up to 1.8 m (6 feet). Some species are also notorious for playing dead when threatened.

Octopuses are among the most intelligent and behaviorally flexible of all invertebrates. All 300 recognized species are venomous, but only one group, the blue-ringed octopus, is known to be deadly to humans. After they have been fertilized, female octopuses can lay as many as hundreds of thousands of eggs.

Ducks are mostly aquatic birds found in both fresh water and sea water. Most ducks are monogamous and breed once a year, choosing to do so in favorable conditions. Mother ducks are very caring and protective of their young, but may abandon some of their ducklings if they are physically stuck in an area they cannot get out of or are not prospering due to genetic defects.

Loggerhead sea turtle is distributed throughout the world. They usually measure around 90 cm (35 inches) long when fully grown, although larger specimens of up to 280 cm (110 inches) have been discovered. Females have an average clutch size of 112 eggs that they lay into a pit dug in sand onshore.

Image credits: #19 – Richard Mayer