Reproductive organs shape

[Saber]

Why  are a lot of  reproductive  organs  are  oval  shaped

Eggs in  birds

testes in male animals

sperm head also  in male  animals

Ovaries in female  ones

Seeds in plants

where has this  pattern  came from ?

 

[MigL]

You realize that 'oval' is derived from the Latin word for egg ( ovum ) ?

( what a relief; I thought you were asking about your mis-shapen penis )

Edited January 21, 2023 by MigL

[Genady]

Not so sure that seeds in plants are generally oval. But most others can be easily explained. For example, eggs need to get out of the body. What shape would you suggest for this process to go smooth?

[sethoflagos]

Many compromises are involved. 

Just considering bird's eggs.

Burrowing birds tend to lay nearly spherical eggs which optimises content volume / shell area, or more particularly shell calcium content as a birds calcium reserves tend to be a limiting factor in egg production. This is also the strongest shape for a given calcium budget.

Cliff nesting birds tend to lay highly pyriform (pear-shaped) eggs that tend to roll in a tight circle helping to prevent them rolling off the edge and also positioning the air bubble in the egg close to where the oxygen hungry brain and eyes will form.

For active fliers, aerodynamic requirements produce a strong adative pressure to form eggs that present a low cross-sectional area against the direction of flight and this favours a more ellipsoidal shape (prolate spheroid to be pedantic).

Most species fall in between these three idealised geometries with the balance being optimised for each one's characteristic lifestyle.

 

[Saber]

What about the testes  ,  sperm heads &  ovaries ?  

Edited January 23, 2023 by Saber

[Sensei]

This thread could be in the physics section..

One could also ask:

Why do submarines look the way they do?

Why do airplanes look the way they do?

[Genady]

Sperm usually need to swim, often against current... @Sensei ^ is right.

 

(x-posted with @sethoflagos)

Edited January 23, 2023 by Genady

[sethoflagos]

2 hours ago, Saber said:

What about the testes  ,  sperm heads &  ovaries ?  

Sperm heads have to do battle with (for them) substantial hydrodynamic forces, so again that's going to favour a prolate spheroid geometry. (Like little submarines).

The major design challenge for organs like testes and ovaries is in keeping the internal plumbing of blood supplies and outgoing products as compact as possible. This favours a more spherical shape to keep pipe runs as short as possible, with maybe a navel or collar at major connection points. Similar challenges as gooseberries, watermelons and garden peas etc.