the maintenance of uniform conditions of temperature and humidity to ensure the development of eggs or, under laboratory conditions, of certain experimental organisms, especially bacteria. The phrase incubation period designates the time from the commencement of incubation to hatching. It also is the time between the infection of an animal by a disease organism and the first appearance of symptoms.

Controlled incubation is practiced by a few snakes (i.e., pythons), all birds, and monotremes (platypus and echidna). Usually the temperature of the eggs is maintained by body heat, but a few species use decaying vegetation, solar heat, or even volcanic heat.