Question

The gestation period of elephants is about
A. 11 months
B. 10 months
C. 15 months
D. 22 months

Answer 1

Hint: Gestation is the period of development during the development of an embryo or the fetus inside viviparous animals. Viviparous animals are born as live young individuals. It is common for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time, for example in a multiple birth.

Complete Answer:
- We know that gestation period happens only in viviparous animals. And also smaller species normally have stronger gestation periods than larger animals.
- For example, a cat's gestation period is 58-60 days whereas a cow gestation period is 283 days which is a bit longer than a cat.
- Elephants are mammals of the family Elephantidae and the largest existing land animals. So we can conclude that the gestation period of an elephant is nearly 2 years which is 22 months. The average gestation period of an elephant is 640-660 days or nearly 95 weeks. Elephants have the longest gestation period of all mammals.

Thus option D is the correct answer.

Note: An embryo or the fetus inside animals happens only in viviparous animals. Among animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent, eventually leading to live birth. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the mother.