Animals that are ovoviviparous reproduce by hatching eggs within their bodies. Some reptiles and fish are ovoviviparous.
Animals reproduce in many different ways, from giving birth to live babies to laying eggs. When an animal is ovoviviparous, its young develop in eggs too, but the eggs stay inside the mother until they hatch: only then do the young emerge. Rattlesnakes are one animal that is ovoviviparous, and so are some kinds of sharks and rays. The adjective ovoviviparous combines the Greek ovum, "egg," with the Latin vivus, "alive," and parere, "bring forth or bear."