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Internal fertilization

 

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Internal fertilization



 
 
Internal fertilization is a form of fertilization of an egg by within the body of an animal, whether female or hermaphroditic
Hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite is an organism having both male and female reproductive organs. In many species, hermaphroditism is a common part of the life-cycle, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which partners are not separated into distinct male and female types of individual....
. This is distinct from external fertilization, where the union of the ova and spermatozoa occur outside of the organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
.

In mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s, internal fertilization is done through copulation
Mating

In biology, mating is the pairing of same-sex, opposite-sex or hermaphrodite organisms for copulation and, in social animals, also to raise their offspring....
, which involves the insertion of the penis
Penis

The penis is an external sex organ of certain biologically male organisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates.The penis is a reproductive organ, technically an intromittent organ, and for Eutheria, additionally serves as the external organ of urination....
 into the vagina
Vagina

The vagina is a fibromuscular cylinder tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles....
. Some other higher vertebrate
Vertebrate

Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with Vertebras or Vertebral columns. The grouping sometimes includes the hagfish, which have no vertebrae, but are genetically quite closely related to lampreys, which do have vertebrae....
 animals (most reptile
Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s, most bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s, and some fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
) reproduce internally, but their fertilization is cloaca
Cloaca

In zoological anatomy, a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the alimentary tract and urinary tract of certain animal species....
l.

The union of spermatozoa of the parent organism.






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Internal fertilization is a form of fertilization of an egg by within the body of an animal, whether female or hermaphroditic
Hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite is an organism having both male and female reproductive organs. In many species, hermaphroditism is a common part of the life-cycle, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which partners are not separated into distinct male and female types of individual....
. This is distinct from external fertilization, where the union of the ova and spermatozoa occur outside of the organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
.

In mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s, internal fertilization is done through copulation
Mating

In biology, mating is the pairing of same-sex, opposite-sex or hermaphrodite organisms for copulation and, in social animals, also to raise their offspring....
, which involves the insertion of the penis
Penis

The penis is an external sex organ of certain biologically male organisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates.The penis is a reproductive organ, technically an intromittent organ, and for Eutheria, additionally serves as the external organ of urination....
 into the vagina
Vagina

The vagina is a fibromuscular cylinder tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles....
. Some other higher vertebrate
Vertebrate

Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with Vertebras or Vertebral columns. The grouping sometimes includes the hagfish, which have no vertebrae, but are genetically quite closely related to lampreys, which do have vertebrae....
 animals (most reptile
Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s, most bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s, and some fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
) reproduce internally, but their fertilization is cloaca
Cloaca

In zoological anatomy, a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the alimentary tract and urinary tract of certain animal species....
l.

The union of spermatozoa of the parent organism. At some point, the growing egg
Egg (biology)

In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo....
 or offspring
Offspring

In biology, offspring is the product of reproduction, a new organism produced by one or more parents.Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way....
 must be expelled. There are three general ways of doing this:

  • Oviparous
    Oviparity

    Oviparous animals are animals that lay Egg , with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the Biological reproduction of most fish, amphibians, reptiles, all birds, the monotremes, and most insects and arachnids....
     organisms, including most insect
    Insect

    Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
    s and reptiles, monotreme
    Monotreme

    Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like Marsupialias and Placentalia .They are conventionally treated as comprising a single order Monotremata, though a recent classification proposes to divide them into the orders Platypoda and Tachyglossa ....
    s, and all birds lay eggs that continue to develop after being laid, and hatch later.


  • Viviparous
    Vivipary

    A viviparous animal is an animal employing vivipary: the embryo develops inside the body of the mother, as opposed to outside in an Egg ....
     organisms, including almost all mammals (such as whale
    Whale

    Whales are marine mammals of order Cetacea which are neither dolphinsmembers, in other words, of the families Oceanic dolphin or River dolphinnor porpoises....
    s, kangaroo
    Kangaroo

    A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus....
    s and human
    Human

    A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
    s) bear their young live. The developing young spend proportionately more time within the female's reproductive tract. The young are later released to survive on their own, with varying amounts of help from the parent
    Parent

    A parent is a mother or father; one who sexual reproduction or gives birth to and/or nurtures and raises an offspring. The different roles of parents vary throughout the tree of life, and are especially complex in human culture....
     (s) on the species
    Species

    In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
    .


  • Oviviparous
    Ovoviviparity

    Ovoviviparous, also known as oviviparous, animals develop within Egg s that remain within the mother's body up until they hatch or are about to hatch....
     organisms, like the garter snake
    Garter snake

    A garter snake is any species of North American snake within the genus Thamnophis. Because of the similarity in sound of the words, combined with where people often see them, they are sometimes called garden snakes or gardner snakes....
    , and the Madagascar hissing cockroach
    Madagascar hissing cockroach

    The Madagascar hissing cockroach , also known as the hissing roach or simply hisser, is one of the largest species of cockroach, reaching 2?3 inches at maturity....
    , have eggs (with shells
    Eggshell

    An eggshell is the outer covering of a hard-shelled egg term and of some forms of eggs with soft outer coats.The generalized eggshell structure, which varies widely among species, is a protein matrix lined with mineral crystals, usually of a calcium compound such as calcium carbonate....
    ) that hatch as they are laid, making it look like "live birth".