Egg tooth (nonfiction)

A Senegal parrot chick at about 2 weeks after hatching. The egg tooth is near the tip of its beak on the upper mandible.

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.

Fiction cross-reference

• Egg Tooth (monster)

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links:

• Egg @ Wikipedia
• Egg tooth @ Wikipedia