Understanding Animal Reproduction

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

• Reproduction: the process by which animals produce offspring.

• One of the basic characteristics of a species.

• Only animals within the same species can produce a fertile offspring.

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

• Occasionally animals of a different species, but within the same family, can reproduce.

• However, their offspring is sterile. Do you remember how chromosomes effect this?

• These offspring are often referred to as "hybrid animals".

Examples of "Hybrid Animals"

Mule, Beefalo, Zebroid, Cama, Liger

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

• Offspring will have similar traits to their parents.

• Why is this?

• Parents are selected and mated to achieve certain goals.

• High milk production, large litters, meaty carcasses, etc.

• The new animals are raised for the products they produce.

• Eggs, meat, milk, wool, and breeding

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction• Sexual Reproduction: the

union of the sperm and egg cells.

• Two parents are required.

• Asexual reproduction only requires 1 parent

• The offspring is genetically identical to that single parent.

• Examples are single-celled organisms and cloning.

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

• Sperm: the sex cell of the male animal.

• Sperm are produced in the testes.

• Egg or Ovum: the sex cell of the female animal

• Eggs are produced in the ovaries.

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

• Fertilization: the process by which the union of a sperm and an egg occurs.

• Also known as conception.

• Takes place in the female's reproductive tract for most animals.

• Occurs outside of the body in fish.

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction• Insemination: the process of placing sperm in the

reproductive tract of the female.

• Natural Insemination: a male of a species mates with a female of the same species.

• Copulation: the mating process in which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female by a male of the same species.

• In order for copulation to occur, the female must be receptive to the male during a time during the estrus cycle called Heat.

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

• Artificial Insemination: (AI) the placing of semen in the female reproductive tract using equipment designed for the purpose.

• AI is often used in dairy and beef cows, horses, swine, and others.

• We will talk about the process of AI later.

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction• Embryo: a fertilized egg.

• Once an egg is fertilized it attaches to the uterine wall which provides it with nourishment.

• Gestation: the state of pregnancy that occurs after fertilization and last through parturition or birth.

• Fetus: a developed embryo

• The fetus will develop until parturition, when it will be able to live outside of the mother.

Objective 1: Describe the Importance of Animal Reproduction

• Parturition: the act of giving birth, which is the final stage of the reproductive process.