Egg Tooth
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In some egg-laying animals, the egg tooth is a small, sharp, cranial protuberance used by offspring to break or tear through the egg's surface during hatching. It is present in most birds and reptiles, and similar structures exist in monotremes, Eleutherodactyl frogs, and spiders.
Some lizards and snakes develop a true tooth that is shed after use; other reptiles and birds generally develop an analogous epidermal horn that is reabsorbed or falls off.
Famous quotes containing the words egg and/or tooth:
“Better half an egg than an empty eggshell.”
—Estonian. Trans. by Ilse Lehiste (1993)
“Had I but awakened from sleep
And called her name, she had heard
It may be, and had not stirred,
That now, it may be, has found
The horn’s sweet note and the tooth of the hound.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)