How many eggs does the eastern spruce budworm lay?
Choristoneura fumiferana
Female moths lay one brood per season, and eggs are laid over several days. The number of eggs per egg mass varies from 1 to about 60, but there are 20 eggs on average per mass.[10] These masses are laid in 2 to 4 rows on conifer foliage, preferably balsam fir and spruce needles. Generally, females can lay 100 to 300 eggs in a lifetime but average approximately 200 eggs. These eggs hatch after around 10 days, but this period ranges from 8 to 12 days.[28][34] The spruce budworm oviposits on needles of host trees in late June or mid-July to early August.[35] Large numbers of egg masses are deposited on the peripheral shoots of the crown.[10]
Western spotted skunk
Western spotted skunks typically breed in September, although both sexes remain fertile for several months thereafter if they fail to breed early. After fertilisation, the embryo develops to the blastocyst stage, but then becomes dormant for several months before implanting in the uterine wall around April. Including this period of delayed implantation, gestation lasts 230 to 250 days, with the litter of two to five young being born in May. At birth, the young are blind and almost hairless, weighing around . Western spotted skunks have lived for almost ten years in captivity.