I just came back after seeing footage of baby aligators being born, and what did I see dragged along behind the baby gators when they left the eggs? A placenta.

 

I didn't even know such a thing was possible. Are those really placentas attached to the baby aligators?

Some reptiles are vivparous, and have allantoplacentae - primitive placental organs. These are interesting from an evo-devo perspective in how vertebrates evolved from an egg laying state to a live bearing state.

 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.1402660508/abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16850472

 

An oviparous egg does not have a placenta in the traditional sense however, so what you saw would not have been aligator placentas: i.e.

I just came back after seeing footage of baby aligators being born, and what did I see dragged along behind the baby gators when they left the eggs? A placenta.

 

I didn't even know such a thing was possible. Are those really placentas attached to the baby aligators?

 

 

probably the remains of the yolk sac, not a placenta, the placenta is the connection between the mother and the baby, since alligators lay eggs it could not have been a placenta.

 

many non mammals have placenta like organs, some fish and sharks come to mind...

I've seen a similar piece of material hanging off other reptiles just after they hatched, i used to raise turtles and snakes, both lay eggs and have what appears to be placenta like material hanging off newly hatched individuals...

While we're on the subject of childbirth in reptiles, here's another thing I need to know.

 

Do any of you know the gestation (if that terms is still applicable to reptiles) period for green iguanas?

Do you mean the time from mating to egg laying (8 weeks) or from laying to hatching? (60-90 days) Iguanas are not vivparous.

 

Also, http://lmgtfy.com/?q=+green+iguana+breeding

 

Thanks.

 

Now what about the time from mating to egg laying for African crocodiles?

Thanks.

 

Now what about the time from mating to egg laying for African crocodiles?

 

 

So you have stumbled on the little known fact that African crocodiles can be crossed with Green Iguanas and you get an invisible dragon?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_crocodile

 

 

 

Females lay their eggs about two months after mating.

No, that's not it, I just wanted to know about Nile crocodile breeding too, as it's another reptile that crossed my mind.