Merit Badge: Eggs!

Watch the Vids

There are three short videos for this class:

Complete the assignment

Write your assignment in the comments below.

This poster illustrates just a few of the more interesting eggs you’ll see in nature. (You can click to biggify.) On this page you can find info on what each specific egg on the poster is. You can ignore this poster completely, or use one of the eggs illustrated on it to inspire your assignment.

Your assignment (about 200 words, or 300 if two of you join up for a single report) is to tell the story of one of nature’s unusual eggs.

Take the Quiz

Once you’ve watched the videos and written your assignment, there is a quick 10-question quiz. Roommates can combine forces to take the quiz…just be sure to post both of your names on the first page of the exam.


Scouts who complete the entire assignment and pass the quiz before 11:59pm on 4/24 will earn 500 points and a merit badge.
Scouts who complete the entire assignment and pass the quiz before 11:59pm on 4/31 will earn 100 points and a merit badge.
The Scout who is judged to have written the best report as part of this class’ assignment will earn a 100 point bonus.

53 comments

  1. https://youtu.be/2w5PANyqgnU

    I have chosen sea turtles because they are so beautiful and patient, and we have little ones along the Chesapeake, although we’ve never seen them!

    Sea turtles take decades to reach sexual maturity, and they may migrate thousands of miles to reach breeding sites. They mate at sea, then then the females return to land to lay their eggs. They often return to the same beach where they were hatched. The female generally climbs up onto the beach at night and finds a suitable spot of dry sand in which to create her nest. Using her back flippers, she digs a circular hole about as deep as her flippers, and then lays her clutch of up to 50-350 eggs.

    After laying, the female sea turtle refills the nest with sand and camouflages the nest with vegetation if available. The female then goes back to the sea, never seeing her eggs again. Turtles can lay up to 8 times in a season Their offspring’s sex is determined by the sand temperature. Females are produced under warmer temps, and males in cooler temps. The eggs can incubate for 50-60 days!

    Most sea turtle species hatch at night, and have a better chance of survival, but even then, very few hatchings make it to maturity. After the eggs hatch, the babies immediately make their way to the water, but only about half actually make it to the ocean. Once in the water, only 50% of those hatchlings survive past the juvenile stage, and just a small percentage of those actually survive into adulthood.

  2. https://youtu.be/FDKgLfWheoI

    I chose robin eggs, since we have so many every Spring in our yard.

    Females must have a completed nest before they can lay their eggs. They generally lay 3-4 eggs within two days of completing the nest. The female must also be properly nourished before she will start to lay, and laying can be delayed if the weather is very cold or she does not have enough energy reserves. Robins generally lay three times per season, and they will sometimes lay eggs in another robin’s nest.

    Only the female robin can sit on the nest, and this is why so many little hatchlings don’t make it — if something happens to mom, the eggs are doomed. Besides cats sometimes killing robins, the nest eggs are also threatened by squirrels, blue jays, crows and even snakes. In order to hatch, robin eggs need high humidity, daily turning and even heat.

    If an egg is on the ground, it usually means it was dropped by a prey animal when being chased off by the robin parents. Best not to pick that egg up, because if there is an embryo inside, it’s no doubt damaged or already perished.

    If the eggs are fortunate to hatch, the babies are fed regurgitated worms and insects for 3 or 4 days, and then other insects and small fruit until they fledge.

    The robin eggshell color comes from pigments in the mother robin’s blood! Hemoglobin from ruptured blood cells is transformed into “bile pigments,” which are carried by the robin’s blood to where the eggshell forms.

    We see lots of adult robins in our yard, but never see the little ones!

    2. That was really interesting Fe;ix. Dad has seen many robins eggs in his day with most being under trees where there is a nest up on high. Hopefully they were from hatchings and the babys did well. He said they were way too high for a cat to get at so we feel confident they were fine. We never knew squirrels ate those eggs and that is pretty interesting too

  3. I wrote about the Green Lacewing! It’s not as yucky as some of these critters.

    The Green Lacewing.
    By Chip Hauckcat

    While there seem to an incredible number of truly unusual eggs in our world, I have chosen to write about the eggs of the green lacewing. Other eggs are more bizarre, but these are really very pretty and don’t seem yucky at all.
    I really like the fact that some animals we learned about, while not being a snuggly and nurturing as cats or humans, do care for their young by providing for their safety! I like that. Mom Lacewing usually lays the eggs at night. She puts them on plants were there are aphids! That what baby lacewings like best! She hangs each eggs on a skinny stalk, about one cm long, underneath a leaf. They remind me of rather modern looking chandeliers!! Pretty! When the babies hatch, they get to slide to the leaf on their stalk! There, their mom had made sure there were lots of yummy aphids!! They walk around on the leaf, swinging their heads from side to side until they bump something, and then they eat it! Let’s hope it was an aphid!! An aphid can be digested in ninety seconds!! They eat a lot of aphids and grow up big and strong and kinda pretty!!

    Now to take the test. I hope I can pass it.

    1. Wowie!! I can’t believe it. 100% on the very first try!! On said I really paid attention to the lectures and took very good notes!!
      Thank you Denmaster for another great educational experience!!

  4. Anya and I took the test today, first time we received an 80% and was told we failed. We retook the test and got a 10%. Phew.

    Here is our report:

    The Horseshoe Crab

    In the late spring and early summer, horseshoe crabs arrive on the beaches to lay their eggs. The peak of spawning on the Atlantic coast occurs in Delaware Bay where thousands of crabs will arrive on the sandy beaches in May and June. The sandy beaches protect the crabs
    from harsh wave action. Also, beach sand and pebble mixture is perfect for incubating horseshoe crab eggs. Crabs arrive on the spawning beaches during the high tides of full and new moons when the water rises highest on the beach. When the female is ready to lay her eggs, she crawls up to the high water line on the beach with a male attached to her. The male clasps onto the female’s shell with a modified pair of claws. The female drags him around during the
    spawning process. In addition to the attached male, several other males may also attempt to fertilize the female’s eggs by arranging themselves on and around the spawning couple during the egg laying process. A female may have five or more males attempting to mate with her
    in a single egg-laying episode. During spawning, the female crab partially buries herself in the sand while she deposits a cluster of about 4,000 tiny green eggs. In an evening of egg laying,
    a female crab can lay several egg clusters, and she may spawn repeatedly over several nights to lay 100,000 or more eggs. The eggs will hatch within two to four weeks. The larvae will emerge from the sandy beaches and enter the water during a high tide nearly a month later. The larvae look like miniature adult horseshoe crabs without tails. After hatching, horseshoe crabs spend
    their first few years of life on the tidal flats and move out farther from shore as they get older. Adults spend the winter in deep bay waters and off-shore areas. As spring approaches, the crabs move agin to the beaches to prepare for spawning.

  5. Puffins don’t start breeding until they are three to six years old. Puffins only lay one white egg each year. If the egg is destroyed and it is early in the season a second replacement egg might be laid. Puffins build burrows in the side of sea cliffs. These burrows are approximately two to three feet deep and they build them with their bills and feet. In the back of the burrow is where a soft nest made of feathers and grass. The parents share in the responsibility of incubating the egg. The egg is hatched after approximately six weeks. The baby bird is called a puffling. Inside of the burrow there is a separate toilet area where the chick goes potty, this is to keep the nest clean. Failure to do so could result in the chick damaging their waterproof feathers. As the chick grows the toilet area is moved closer and closer to the entrance of the burrow. Mom got to see Puffins on the cliffs of Ireland which is why I picked this boring looking egg of the chart.

  7. Cooper Murphy and I are doing our report on the giant water bug or Belostomatidae.

    In species of the subfamily Belostomatinae, for example the Abedus, the female glues the eggs onto the male’s back (wings) and the male tends them until the eggs hatch. The male cannot mate during this period, won’t be able to fly, will have a harder time swimming and be more vulnerable to predators.

    The female water bug takes the role of actively finding her mate and mating is usually takes several minutes. It involves the usual parts coming into contact with one another and the transfer of sperm from the male to the female. When they’re done mating, the female will try to climb onto the male’s back to lay eggs. However, the male normally will not allow his mate to lay eggs after mating only once. So, the bugs mate several to many times and the female lays her eggs. The males generally only allow the females to lay 1-4 eggs at a time. After that, he shakes her off his back and insists that they mate again. Then she lays a few more eggs. Then they mate again, as many as 10-50 more times. The process can take several hours.

    The eggs are initially yellow-white but gradually change to gray-brown. They can be quite large compared to the size of the adult. Abedus herberti (highland streams in Arizona and northwestern Mexico) eggs can measure as much as 0.24 in × 0.08 inches when fully developed. Eggs hatch in about one to three weeks time. After hatching, the wingless nymphs resemble small, wingless adults. They molt several times before becoming full-sized, winged adults.

    Here’s the link to a really discussing photo: http://www.natureblog.org/giant-waterbug-weggs/

  9. We passed the test and are doing our report on Seahorse eggs! Allie and I did our report together.

    The male seahorse is equipped with a pouch on the ventral, or front-facing, side of the tail. When mating, the female seahorse deposits up to 1,500 eggs in the male’s pouch. The male carries the eggs for 9 to 45 days until the seahorses emerge fully developed, but very small. The young are then released into the water, and the male often mates again within hours or days during the breeding season.[1

    Before breeding, seahorses may court for several days. Scientists believe the courtship behavior synchronizes the animals’ movements and reproductive states so the male can receive the eggs when the female is ready to deposit them. During this time, they may change color, swim side by side holding tails or grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails, and wheel around in unison in what is known as a “predawn dance”. They eventually engage in a “true courtship dance” lasting about 8 hours, during which the male pumps water through the egg pouch on his trunk which expands and opens to display its emptiness. When the female’s eggs reach maturity, she and her mate let go of any anchors and drift upward snout-to-snout, out of the sea grass, often spiraling as they rise. They interact for about 6 minutes, reminiscent of courtship. The female then swims away until the next morning, and the male returns to sucking up food through his snout. The female inserts her ovipositor into the male’s brood pouch and deposits dozens to thousands of eggs. As the female releases her eggs, her body slims while his swells. Both animals then sink back into the sea grass and she swims away.

  11. I chose emu eggs. Emus are the 2nd largest bird by height, only the ostrich is larger. Breeding takes place in May and June. Fighting among the females for mates is common. Females can mate several times and lay several clutches of eggs in one season. Clutches are about 10-20 eggs. The males do the incubation. During this process he hardly eats or drinks and loses a significant amount of weight. The eggs hatch after eight weeks and the young are nutured by their father. The eggs start out pale green and granulated in texture. During incubation they turn a dark green color. If an egg doesn’t hatch it will turn white from the sun. The eggs are about 1 1/2 pounds each and can be purchased from stores. Some are used for making arts and other kinds of crafts.

    2. I left out a little bit on Emus. They are from Australia where they are the largest bird. They are soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds with long necks and can reach 6.2 ft tall. They can sprint at 50 mph. They can go weeks without eating. They drink water sporadically, meaning they can go without water for awhile and then drink a lot when needed.

  12. I am doing a report on the Malleefowl

    The Malleefowl is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken. The Malleefowl is found in semi-arid to arid shrublands and low woodlands, especially those dominated by Mallee or Acacias. Sand and an abundance of leaf litter are required for breeding. Malleefowl bury their eggs in a mound of compost layered with sand. The large nesting mounds are constructed by the males. When it is warm the males dig tunnels to cool down the eggs and when it is cold they pile more leaves on the mound to warm the eggs. Egg laying usually begins in September and an egg is laid every 5-7 days until mid to late summer. The incubation period of eggs varies with temperature, but is about 60 days at typical nest temperatures. The eggs are also quite large, relative to the size of the bird, which allows the chick to become quite fully developed. In addition, the eggs have a high yolk content. This lasts through their long incubation period, and helps the chicks grow strong so they can make their own way out of the mound.

  13. Part of the auk family, murres lay their eggs on skinny rock ledges overlooking the
    sea. Murre eggs have an unusually angular tip, one of the pointiest in the avian kingdom.

    Scientists
    have long thought that a murre egg’s shape kept it from
    rolling off the ledges where the birds nest, but the truth
    might not be that simple.

    British ornithologist Tim Birkhead has studied murres for 44
    years, And he has a different theory.

    Birkhead winnowed it down to two
    features: 1) space and 2)cleanliness.

    1)The birds’ nesting ledges
    are typically cramped—up to 70 murres can inhabit a square
    meter—and consequently there’s a lot of trampling.
    Murres are also unwieldy fliers, which can cause them to
    crash-land onto other birds’ nearby nests.
    The egg’s shape protects it from
    impact. Compared to a typical oval egg, the shape of the murre’s
    egg places more of the shell in contact with the ground. That would dissipate the force of an impact across its
    surface. The eggshell is also
    thicker in the part of the shell that touches the
    ground.

    2)Also, murre nesting colonies are filthy and packed. The guano and dirt that encrusts an
    incubating egg can clog up the pores that allow chicks to
    breath and also cause infection.
    But in murre eggs, the greatest concentration
    of pores is around the egg’s large, blunt end that is
    raised above the ground by the downward-angled tip. This
    protects it from the contaminated ledge.

    “I’m driven by scientific curiosity,”
    Birkhead says. “It’s an interesting puzzle to try and
    solve.” 

  14. I chose ostrich eggs because they are the largest of all eggs.Each one weighs 3 pounds, that may not sound like much, but it is 20 times the size of a chicken’s eggs. THey are 6 inches in diameter. They are cream colored with very thick shells. The females incubate them for the day and the males do at night. IIt takes 42 days to hatch one. I think it is nice they share their duties.

    There are 7-10 eggs in a nest. Females can lay up to 50 a year. Ostrich lay eggs in a communal nest , called a dump nest. so there will be a lot of eggs around the nest to, usually around 60. And each opstrich recognizes its own eggs.

    Apparently ostrich eggs are quite tasty, filled with magnesium and iron. They also have less cholesterol than a chicken egg. You will need a lot of time to prepare it though as they take 90 minutes to boil and you will probably need a drill to open the shell. One egg is equal to 2,000 calories!

  15. Praying Mantis Eggs
    By Timmy & Einstein
    We decided to do Praying Mantis Eggs as when we showed Dad he got this look of sudden understanding. He said he had seen these many times in the woods when he was young but never knew what they were.
    When thinking of the Praying Mantis and their eggs we need to start right at the beginning which is a bit creepy as they engage in Canabalistic Mating. This starts out a lot the same as Dad used to do to find gals, by dancing. Lucky for Dad he is not a Mantis but he still says he found a few bloodsuckers in his day. No more about Dad. The male Praying Mantis does a seductive dance to attract his mate who during or after mating the female will bite off his head (ouch.) This may actually help with mating as it is noted that the male will, umm, move more vigorously after the loss of his head. Yikes. Once the fun is over the female is ready to produce her fertalized eggs.
    The Preying Mantis eggs are laid into a foam that will harden into a sac that measures about an inch long and half to three quarter inch around. They have a grayish color and appear to be made of paper or wood so they blend in where they are laid. The sacs are laid on the stems of plants but can also be found on walls and under roof overhangs. The female lays up to 300 eggs in a sac so there are enough born to carry on as only one in five makes it to adulthood.
    They become easier to see once fall comes and leaves drop in the Northern States. Dad says he only ever found empty ones and they reminded him of Japanese Lanterns. There are seed pods that are similar, but much larger, and that is what he thought he had found. They live in most of North America but anywhere colder and you may have to add them to your garden for natural pest control
    When the nymphs are born they are hungry and will gobble up any aphids, mosquitos (yes) and other soft bodied insects. As they grow they will start to eat larger prey like crickets, beetles, grasshoppers and other garden pests. Some will actually eat small birds, rodents or other creatures their size. Some species can live for up to 12 years which is amazing.
    When we researched this we were surprised to find a lot of suppliers of these egg sacs and Dad said he will get us a few for study. We will do a report on them when that time comes.
    We really liked learning about eggs and never knew how interesting they are!

  17. Fabulous videos….so interesting! My Mom has a “thing” about sharks so I wrote my report about them…..shark eggs are unusual for sure.

    Most sharks and skates lay strangely shaped eggs sometimes called a ‘mermaid’s purse.’ These consist of an egg case in a thin capsule made of collagen. They often are square or rectangular with stringy or pointy corner horns, but can come in a variety of odd shapes. A few sharks, such as the Port Jackson shark, have helical egg cases which are secured into the sand like drill bits. Shark eggs can wash up on the beach and are often hand-sized, although the largest recorded was over 2m long. Female sharks lay fertilized eggs onto the sea floor where they stay until they hatch, not needing any more attention from their mother. Some shark eggs contain several baby sharks which cannibalize each other before hatching to ensure that only the strongest baby survives. Yikes!

    Fun class Denmaster…………..Teddy

    Baby sharks aren’t ALWAYS the product of a male/female mating however. Apparently, female sharks are capable of conceiving themselves through asexual reproduction meaning no sperm transfer performed by a male. They discovered this when tests revealed that the offspring of a female had NO genetic information from any male. This appears to reinforce defenses against threats to the same species by diminishing the genetic diversity. Strange? Yes!

      1. My Mom used to live in Florida – any years ago – but now we’re in Virginia. We do have Scouts who ARE living there though – PeteH and Raz for two and I’m sure there are more! EEEEK!

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