Breeding ground
A breeding ground was a place where young lifeforms were conceived, during mating season, and sometimes birthed. The term spawning ground generally refers to breeding grounds where fish (and the like) spawn, while the term nesting ground generally refers to the breeding grounds where avians nest and breed.
When explaining the drive experienced during pon farr to Captain James T. Kirk, Spock compared it with other "precedents in nature", noting how "the giant eel-birds of Regulus V, once each eleven years they must return to the caverns where they hatched. On your Earth, the salmon. They must return to that one stream where they were born, to spawn or die in trying." Likewise, with Vulcans, "we are driven by forces we cannot control to return home and take a wife. Or die." (TOS: "Amok Time")
In 2373, Tom Paris located what appeared to be the spawning ground for astral eddies, populated by thousands of "baby" ones. (VOY: "Real Life")
In 2375, the Changeling Laas recalled having migrated to Varala's southern continent with a herd of volg, who returned to their breeding grounds the summer after and found them to be fenced off. This resulted in the herd dying off within two generations, something Laas cited as a typical occurrence when humanoids thrived. (DS9: "Chimera")
See also[]
- Birthing chamber
- Birthing tank
- Ex utero
- Growth tank
- Hatchery
- Incubation pod
- Incubator
- Maturation chamber