The fact that Hork-Bajir blades are not fully developed when born seems, to me, to imply live birth. If they were an egg-laying species, it would be advantageous for the blades to develop before anything else, since that would give them a better means of cracking through the shell. Oh, and consider the planet that Hork-Bajir were designed for. Steep slopes + eggs = generally not a good idea.
As for the . . . how? . . . part, it's probably pretty similar to how porcupines, ahem, do it. Porcupines manage to reproduce and bear live young without killing each other or dying, so however they do it (I'm no expert on the habits of porcupines
) might be similar to how Hork-Bajir do it.
[spoiler=The Ellimist Chronicles]For the Ketrans, it's possible that they have some sort of short-range airborne gametes. I recall the scene were Aguella released some sort of hormones into the air that blindsided Toomin, so it's possible that they reproduce in a similar fashion. That could explain why he got so freaked by Aguella's actions.[/spoiler]
However, I also like the Bald Eagle analogy.
As far as Taxxons go, my theory is that the Living Hive is a mature Taxxon, and the reason that there are so few Living Hives is because the Taxxons all tend to eat each other before they can ever reach maturity. Loads of earth insects have a juvenile form and an adult form that look nothing alike, so why not? Then the Hive might reproduce asexually, thus starting the cycle over again.
Then again, any creature using asexual reproduction is going to be forced to evolve very slowly. And so it's much less likely that any species that evolves that way will ever reach sentience. So the Living Hives probably have some way of exchanging DNA with one another.
For the same reason, it's not likely that the Leerans only have one gender, unless they are a very old race. More likely, they reproduce in a similar fashion to fish or frogs. The females lay the eggs, and the males fertilize them.
Gedds
the male reproductive organ grows out of the left armpit. the female one is under the right knee.
OMG that's why they're asymmetrical! You're a genius!