Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Sexual reproduction is the most common life cycle in multicellular eukaryotes, such as animals, fungi and plants. [6] [7] Sexual reproduction also occurs in some unicellular eukaryotes. [2] [8] Sexual reproduction does not occur in prokaryotes, unicellular organisms without cell nuclei, such as bacteria and archaea.
It is often assumed that animals do not have sex for pleasure, or alternatively that humans, pigs, bonobos (and perhaps dolphins and one or two more species of primates) are the only species that do. This is sometimes stated as "animals mate only for reproduction". This view is considered a misconception by some scholars.
In biology, mating is the pairing of either opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for the purposes of sexual reproduction. Fertilization is the fusion of two gametes. [1] Copulation is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization. [2]
[9] [10] [11] This type of reproduction has been induced artificially in a number of animal species that naturally reproduce through sex, including fish, amphibians, and mice. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Some species reproduce exclusively by parthenogenesis (such as the bdelloid rotifers ), while others can switch between sexual reproduction and parthenogenesis.
Animal non-reproductive sexual behavior encompasses sexual activities that non-human animals participate in which do not lead to the reproduction of the species. Although procreation continues to be the primary explanation for sexual behavior in animals, recent observations on animal behavior have given alternative reasons for the engagement in sexual activities by animals. [1]
Sexual learning (a form of associative learning) occurs when an animal starts to associate bodily features, personality, contextual cues, and other stimuli with genitally-induced sexual pleasure. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] Once formed, these associations in turn impinge upon both sexual wanting and sexual liking.
The term "gonochorism" is usually applied to animals while "dioecy" is applied to plants. [20] Gonochorism is the most common sexual system in animals, occurring in 95% of animal species. [21] Gynodioecy: females and hermaphrodites coexist in the same population. [10] Gynomonoecy
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: asexual and sexual. In asexual reproduction, an organism can reproduce without the involvement of another organism.