2007-02-22 08:00:37 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Usually the number of eggs laid is related to the amount of parental investment. Where parents care more for their young fewer eggs are laid and the chances to survival of the young are increased by parental care. Birds of prey lay few eggs and feed their young until they can hunt for themselves i.e. a huge investment, whereas turtles lay several eggs with the only care being the best nutrition the mother can supply to each egg. The chances of survival of offspring with parental care is greater than for an individual with no parental care, so more eggs as laid by the turtle increase the chance that one individual will survive.
These are different ways of trying to ensure survival of offspiring, but the results are much the same. On average each reproducing individual will replace themselves, the method of reproduction aims to maximise this chance in different ways.
2007-02-22 09:42:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Eagle looks after its young until they're ABLE to fend for themselves and that's a lot more challenging than laying 300 eggs and then swimming off into the ocean and wishing them good luck.
The investment in time and effort the eagle makes virtually guarantees it's offspring will survive to adulthood.
The turtle just dumps them in a pile of sand and keeps it's flippers crossed that because it laid a few hundred eggs on the same beach as 50 other turtles who also laid a few hundred eggs, maybe a few of them will get to the sea without being eaten. And maybe just one of those hundreds will make it to adulthood.
In the meantime, hundreds of baby turtles are massacred and become baby eagle food.
(I wish you'd just said eagle rather than golden eagle. I realise golden eagles and turtles don't live in the same place but i think the joke still works)
2007-02-22 16:50:17 · answer #2 · answered by BIMS Lewis 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They have different reproductive strategies. Turtles try to las as many eggs as possible so to increase the possibility of them making it to adulthood, but on their own. Eagles lay only a few eggs and have very little baby eagles, but they take care of them so to ensure that they reach adulthood.
2007-02-22 21:40:02 · answer #3 · answered by Lara Croft 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Turtles have a much harder time surviving to adulthood than eagles do, so they need to have more offspring to increase the chances that some of them will grow old enough to produce offspring.
2007-02-22 16:14:05 · answer #4 · answered by booda2009 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
different animals employ different methods to ensure that their genes survive to the next generation.
in the case of turtles they produce a large number of reasonably inexpensive (in terms of energy expenditure) eggs on the basis that some will survive to adulthood with no parental care.
eagles on the other hand invest a large amount of energy on few offspring
2007-02-25 13:32:41 · answer #5 · answered by fi_m54 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First answer is the best one. Eagles are predators with few things that prey on them, even with young. Turtles have more things that prey on them. Young turtles are heavily preyed on both fresh, saltwater and land species.
2007-02-23 10:03:28 · answer #6 · answered by A1973 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When on the higher level of the predator/prey pyramid, there are less ofsprin, due to the 10% rule of the population pyramid.
2007-02-22 16:03:24 · answer #7 · answered by EC 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because of predation by seagulls + crabs.
2007-02-22 16:16:44 · answer #8 · answered by CLIVE C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋