The mammalian sperm cell is an essential part of the reproductive system in all mammals. It is the reproductive cell in all mammals that helps in the birth of a new life. Without the sperm cell, the mammalian sperm cell there would not be any mammals on earth, we would all be extinct and fossils just like the dinosaurs.

The sperm cell can be found in the testes of mammals. This is because the normal body temperature is too high for sperm to survive in. They must be placed outside of the body where the testes can adjust to the temperature by shrinking in or loosening out. Sperm cells are produced in the testicles. The inside of the testes is coiled up so that there can be a large surface area for more reactions to occur on. The sperm cell is formed through the process of meiosis. Meiosis is similar to mitosis, but has a few different steps at the end. When the two daughter cells are formed from mitosis, they split into haploids to for sperm cells. There is no DNA duplication in the daughter cells; they simply split their DNA equally.

In humans, the sperms come in a “female” and a “male” type. The “female” sperm has the XX chromosomes and the “male” sperm has the chromosomes XY. A sperm cell is a haploid, which means that it only has half of the chromosomes required by the animal. The other half of the chromosomes is found in the egg cell. When both haploids combine together, they form a diploid which is also called a zygote. In humans, there are 23 chromosomes in the sperm cell and 23 in the egg cell. This means that there is an equal balance of DNA coming from both parents.

The structure of a mammalian sperm is very simple when compared with the other cells in the body. In the head of the sperm cell, there is cell membrane. Inside of the head, there is the nucleus holding half of the chromosomes and the nuclear vacuoles. On the mid section of the sperm is where the centriole and then mitochondria reside. The sperm uses energy from the mitochondria to move its tail. The tail of the sperm cell is the longest part. It is used for movement towards its ultimate goal of fertilizing an egg cell. The head of the sperm cell is 5 by 3 micrometres and the tail is 50 micrometres long.

The sperm has a lack of cytoplasm and has the most condensed DNA in eukaryotes. This is because of the fact that the sperms only job is to transport DNA and fertilize the egg cell. The sperm cell’s mitochondria are also destroyed by the egg cell when it is fertilized. This means that the mitochondria of the unborn child must come from the mother.

The sperm is a very different eukaryotic cell. It cannot support itself for too long and it does not make proteins even though it has the DNA. Yet, the sperm cell is extremely important to any mammal species, because it with the egg cell is what creates life and without these two haploid cells, life on earth would be non – existent.