8 Bird and Fish Eggs That Look Nothing Like What You’d Expect — Including One That Looks Exactly Like a Dragon’s

Most people have a strong image of what an egg looks like. Round, white or brown, chicken-sized. The actual range is considerably more interesting. Some eggs look like patterned art pieces. Some look like something that fell off a spaceship. Some look like dragon eggs, or mermaid’s purses, or capsules from a science fiction film.
These 8 bird and fish egg photos and stories prove that nature has been doing extraordinary things with eggs for a very long time without bothering to tell anyone.

The poster of this photo found an egg of the guira cuckoo. It is a bird from the cuckoo subfamily. It mainly lives in the tropical regions of South America.

The bird prefers open habitats: pastures, sometimes parks or gardens. Like its relative, the cuckoo, the guira is not a particularly strong flier. It flits from one treetop to another, making a distinctive piercing sound — somewhere between a whistle and a howl. It forages on the ground, sometimes alone and sometimes in flocks. Unlike the common cuckoo, the guira does not lay its eggs in other birds’ nests, it incubates them itself.

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A man was walking along the beach when he found this thing. He had no idea what it was, so he left it there. Later, he showed this photo to a friend, who explained that it was a shark egg.

• What a lucky find! It’s a horn shark egg! © Bright Side
• Yes, it’s a shark egg. Some people also call them mermaid purses. And if I remember correctly from some documentaries, some egg cases hold more than one shark embryo. Other egg cases hold only one for the entire gestation. Quite interesting. © DaneAlaskaCruz / Reddit
• That is wild! I would have never guessed that was an egg! © SabbyFox / Reddit

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A man found what he initially thought was a shark egg. But he was assured that it definitely was not.

Indeed, the photo shows a skate egg case. These cases are also known as mermaid’s purses. During high tides or storms, they are often washed ashore, and they are almost always already empty. The largest egg case belongs to the big California skate — it can reach 1 foot.

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This emu egg was found by a woman in Australia. When she saw it, she thought it looked like a dragon egg. She left it with the other eggs.

• Left over eggs, if that’s what they actually were, are then fodder for other wildlife such as Goanna’s. It’s an important cycle in the Bush. Sometimes the nest will be left in the heat as they are still warm but the mum or dad won’t be far away because of predators like snakes, goannas, and larger birds. Most likely not there if you didn’t see one. © NotUrAverageBoo / Reddit
• I have so many of these because my in-laws have emus. They’re gorgeous eggs. In fact, my wife and I hatched and raised a rhea (South American ostrich), and she had beautiful yellow/gold eggs. © Zyker / Reddit

The poster was captivated by the remarkable color of cassowary eggs. These are large flightless birds, with some individuals reaching 6 feet 6.5 inches in height and 168 pounds in weight. They’re the second-largest birds, after ostriches.

They live in the tropical forests of New Guinea and northeastern Australia. Their legs are very powerful and equipped with sharp claws. They are highly elusive, living deep in the forest and being most active at night. They mainly feed on fallen fruit. The eggs of these birds can weigh up to 1.5 pounds. Interestingly, it is the male that builds the nest.

The poster said that a robin built a nest above their shed. No filter was used — this is the eggs’ natural color.

• When my sister got married, that actually was the color of our bridesmaids’ dresses. I thought it was really pretty. © gboogiespeks / Reddit
• Beautiful color of the eggs and cozy nest. We have robins come into our garden for years and I know they are nesting somewhere nearby, but have never seen it. © RainbowandHoneybee / Reddit

A man found this egg on the beach of southern Brazil. It resembled a chicken egg, but it felt soft to the touch and looked almost like plastic.

• This is likely an egg capsule belonging to a sea snail, e.g., Pachycymbiola brasiliana. The little snails have exited through the hole. © GrassrootsGrison / Reddit
• Did you keep it? That’s an awesome addition to a random nature treasure collection! © Unknown author / Reddit

This really is an egg capsule from a marine snail. It forms hundreds of translucent spheres that feel firm to the touch and are filled with a thick, jelly-like liquid.

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This is the egg of a common murre. The bird spends nearly all its time at sea, coming ashore only to lay eggs on rocky coasts or islands.

Common murres are very active underwater, diving to depths of 100–195 feet. They usually nest in large colonies without building nests. They incubate their single egg directly on the bare rock between their feet.
The egg is incubated for about 30 days, and the chick hatches already covered in down. After 20 days, it leaves its “nest” and heads to the sea. By then, it is already able to dive.

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None of these people were looking for something extraordinary. They were just walking, and the extraordinary was already there: 15 Bizarre Beach Finds That Baffled People — and Remind Us How Little We Actually Know About the Ocean

If you’ve ever found something on a beach, in a field, or in a garden that you had to show someone else to identify — the comments are the right place for it.

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