Describe the various steps involved in the sexual reproduction in animals. Draw labelled diagrams to show the fertilisation of an ovum (or egg) by a sperm to form a zygote.

Following steps are involved in the process of sexual reproduction in animal:

(i) In animal, male parent produce male gametes called sperms. Millions of sperms are produced by testes (male gonad). The sperm is very small in size and has a head, a middle piece and a tail.


(ii) The female parent produces female gamete called ova (eggs) which is much bigger cell than the sperm, having a lot of cytoplasm. Like a sperm, an egg is also a single cell.


(iii) The next step is fertilisation. In this step, sperm enters the ovum and fuses with it to form a new cell called zygote. The zygote is the beginning of a new individual.


(iv) In this step, zygote begins to develop into an embryo. The zygote divides repeatedly to form a large number of cells and ultimately the zygote grows and develops to form a baby.



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