Stefan Christmann / Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) egg shell on sea ice. Atka Bay, Antarctica. August.

Ingo Arndt / Ostrich (Struthio camelus) chick hatching from egg, Africa, captive.

Pedro Narra / Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) returning to sea, Bissagos Islands, Guinea Bissau. Endangered species. 3rd Place in the SOS Especes Menacees / SOS Endangered Species Portfolio category of the Terre Sau...

Wild Wonders of Europe / Zankl / Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) emerging from shell, Dalyan delta, Turkey, July.

Wild Wonders of Europe / Zankl / Newly hatched Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) showing egg tooth used to break through shell, Dalyan Delta, Turkey, August 2009

Ingo Arndt / Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) eggs, fish already visible through egg-shell, Europe

Ingo Arndt / Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides) caterpillar hatching out of egg, Costa Rica

Ingo Arndt / Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides) caterpillar hatching out of egg, Costa Rica

Michael & Patricia Fogden / Bushmaster (Lachesis muta) baby hatching from egg, lowland rainforest on Atlantic slope of Costa Rica

Tui De Roy / Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) newly hatched chick, second egg pipping, Peterson Island, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica

Fred Bavendam / Pacific Giant Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) eggs and newborn, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Fred Bavendam / Paper Nautilus (Argonauta nodosa) is actually a pelagic Octopus, females make the parchment-like shell to carry incubating eggs, South Australia