Life Cycles

Animals all have very different life cycles. Some lay eggs, some give birth to live young, some such as insects, go through several stages until they finally become a full size adult.

These will show some of the life cycle stages from different UK animals, which I have either seen, found or been given as exhibits, so what I have is very random!

Mammals give birth to live young. They do not lay eggs. The mothers produce milk for their young and parents often provide food and shelter for their young for the first few years, until they can support themselves.

Birds lay eggs in a nest, which they build or excavate every year. They lay eggs in clutches of between 1-10. Smaller birds such as Blue tits lay several eggs in a clutch but larger birds like owl, just lay 2 or 3. The parents look after and provide food for their chicks for the first few weeks or months of their life. It varies for different species of bird.

Most Reptiles lay eggs, with a soft, leathery shell. They lay their eggs on land.

Adders are unusual in that although they are snakes, they incubate the eggs inside their body and give birth to live young.

Slow worms are also 'ovoviviparous', which means that they lay eggs internally. The eggs hatch inside the female slow worm's body, and the young stay there for a while, living off the yolk of the egg. The female will then give birth to live young.

Common lizards also give birth to live young. Sand lizards lay eggs which they bury in the sand to keep warm.

Amphibians, the frogs, toads and newts, lay large batches of eggs in water. The young grow up in the water but as adults can also move and breathe on land

Let's look at some stages from a few life cycles and see if you can identify the animal, they belong to before the photo of the adult appears!

Can you classify the animals as Mammal, Bird, Reptile, Amphibian or Invertebrate? (Invertebrates are animals without a backbone such as worms, slugs, spider and insects.)

If you enjoyed this web page and would like to discover the beauty in the skeletons of different animals, follow the links below.

• Bird Skeletons
• Mammal Skeletons
• Mammal Skulls & Teeth
• Tawny Owl Skeleton
• Grey Squirrel Skeleton
• Mallard Duck Skeleton
• Rat, Mouse, Vole & Shrew Skeletons

Other Natural History Topics

• Insect Wings: A Photographic Study
• Butterfly & Moth Specimens at the Natural History Museum, London
• Insect Specimens at the Natural History Museum, London
• Fish Bones
• British Plants
• Local Habitats
• Seasons

Especially for Children

• Whose Skull is This?
• Whose Skin Covering is This?
• Whose Life Cycle? (Here)

Exhibits and Thanks

Almost all of the animals in my collection were either found by myself, Susanna Ramsey, or donated by friends and family to The Nature Collection, as an educational resource. Huge thanks for all the tiny, carefully-wrapped bundles of feathers and bones, to Steve and Sam Read, John Lock, Chris Matcham, Franko Maroevic, Tim Howard, Jan Wilczur, Simon Richards, Peter Veniard, Paula Redmond, Phil Davis, Bob & Sally Black, Jo & Frank Sheppard and Katie Ramsey. Many of these people are naturalists and experts in their field; I am indebted to them too, for all that they have taught me about our local wildlife.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to be a regular visitor to the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London. The unimaginably-vast collection of British insect specimens, stored in row upon row, of metal, floor-to-ceiling cabinets has been a massive inspiration to me. There is something infinitely satisfying about the way every species has its own box, within a drawer, within a cabinet and that each can be found within minutes, by the care and expertise of the staff. To witness the incredible number of UK species of moth, beetle, butterfly, fly, grasshopper etc, is simply mind blowing and I feel so privileged to be able to visit and photograph some of the specimens!

I have used the photo stacking equipment at the Angela Marmont Centre to take highly-detailed photos of some of the specimens to put into slideshows for my primary school workshops. When I was young, I always wanted to be an archaeologist and it was my ambition to work in a museum; to sit in the Centre, using the equipment and handling the specimens, listening to the chatter of the experts at work, has been a dream come true. I am so grateful to the staff at the Centre for their encouragement and for always making me feel so welcome.

Thanks also to Tonja Grung, of Made from the Dead Taxidermy, for sharing her incredible knowledge, patience and skill. I will never forget our amazing sessions on animal taxidermy.

The delicate skeletons were cleaned to perfection by a colony of flesh-eating, dermestid beetles, skilfully managed by Edward de Geer.