Noo, some species have individuals that change their sex at some point in their life. Others are both male AND female, such as earthworms. In some species like honeybees, only certain individuals are capable of reproducing.

Secondly, you should know that individuals are transient, meaning that populations TRANSCEND through finite life spans only through reproduction of their individuals. In other words, populations only thrive throughout time because we continually reproduce (I know what you’re thinking… “duh!,” but we still have to learn this stuff or our lives would be water).

Asexual Reproduction:

Not all animals have sex to reproduce. Some like to reproduce on their own (asexually), such as the sea anemone. There are several ways to do this:

1. Fission: Separating the parent organism into two individual organisms (ex: sea anemone)
2. Budding: Offspring arise from outgrowths of parents (ex: coral, hydra)
3. Fragmentation and Regeneration: Broken pieces of parent form whole offspring (ex: the infamous starfish!)
4. Parthenogenesis: a egg develops without fertilization(ex: Komodo dragon and some species of hammerhead sharks)

Sexual Reproduction (much better):

Most animals reproduce by having SEX. There is one way to do this:

1. Sex: (you know) (ex: humans, dolphins, elephants, mice, turtles, etc.)

Still, what is so great about sex?! If only humans and dolphins have sex for pleasure, why don’t the other animals reproduce asexually? I mean, asexual reproduction produces FAR MORE offspring because it doesn’t require two mates each time. The advantage of sex comes from the genetic recombination. More variability in genes = more chances of gaining better traits over time and ridding unfavorable traits. Sucks to their ASS-MAR!!

Reproductive Cycles:

All you need to know is that there are certain periods when animals reproduce usually:

1. When the have enough energy stores
2. When the environment favors survival of offspring

OVULATION is the release of mature eggs, which occurs in the midpoint of the cycle.

For sessile (mostly stationary) animals and burrowing animals such as clams, this is a problem, because encounters between opposite sexes are rare. BUT, fear not, for HERMAPHRODITISM is the perfect solution! Hermaphroditism allows species to be both male and female at the same time! This way, when sessile individuals encounter, they don’t have to worry it the other is the opposite sex because they are both BOTH! Oh, and some hermaphrodites don’t even need to find mates. They can fertilize themselves (…disgusting, but just remember: water)

*Fun fact: the term comes from Hermes who apparently was both a god and a goddess…