Reproductive System
sexual reproduction
The reproductive system is the part of an organism that makes them able to sexually reproduce. human and other animals use their reproductive systems to have sexual intercourse as well as reproduce. The reproductive system is one of the human organ systems and one example is the penis in man.
The illustrations (pictures) here show only human reproductive systems. Other mammals have similar reproductive systems.
Written for younger readers
Reproductive System, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Biology
NOTOC
In humans and many other living things, there are two sexes: men and women. Babies are made when a cell called a sperm (produced by men) comes together with an egg cell or ovum (produced by women) in a process called fertilization. When the cells combine, they form a new cell, called a zygote (zy rhymes with eye; gote sounds like goat) which has all it needs to make a new man or woman. The zygote will make a baby like his mother and father.
Babies come from their mother. To make a baby, the father must put his sperm into the mother’s body. This is called having sex. The man puts his penis into the woman’s vagina and the sperm cells swim into the mother’s body.
Fertilization happens in the mother. The new zygote grows into a ball called a morula which will stick to the mother’s womb. This ball grows into a blastula which later develops into a baby.
Nine months after fertilization, a new baby will come out of the mother’s vagina in a process called childbirth.
womb - The place in a body where a baby grows.
zygote - The one cell made from a sperm cell and an egg cell that will grow into a person.
sperm - A sex cell made by a man.
egg - A sex cell made by a woman.
fertilization - When sperm and egg get together and make a zygote.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Reproductive System” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
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