Similar to plants, animals may also reproduce sexually or asexually.

Asexual Reproduction
 Occurs when the body of the parent grows buds, which eventually falls off and grows on
its own.
 This happen to animals that are stationary
 Advantageous as the animals produce numerous offspring.
 There is no improvement in the charateristics of the animal.
 Any change in the animal’s environment may be fatal to the animal
Sexual Reproduction
 Produces offspring by combining the genetic material of more than one parent.
 Most animals and all humans reproduce sexually.
 The female parent produces the egg and the male parent produces the sperm.
METHODS OF REPRODUCTION IN SOME ANIMALS
HYDRA
Organisms of the genus hydra lives in freshwater lakes, ponds, and streams. The hydra develops
a bud which is attached to the parent until it is fully formed. Once it is fully formed, it detaches
from its parent. The young hydra is now free to swim on its own until it finds support and starts
to reproduce.

SPONGE

Sponges are able to reproduce asexually and sexually. In some sponges, the new individual buds
from the parent. In others, the parent sponge breaks into many fragments, and each fragment
grows into a new sponge.

CNIDARIANS: JELLYFISH

The jellyfish belong to phylum Cnidaria. It has two different body forms during their life cycle:
polyp stage and medusa stage. The adult medusa releases either sperm or egg into the water
where fertilization occurs. The resulting zygote develops into a blastula, which develops into a
planula. The planula settles and attaches to the ocean floor, becoming a polyp. As the polyp
grows, it forms into the medusa in the process called strobilation, wherein reproductive
structures are formed. Each of these stacks from the medusa then buds off and develops into a
jellyfish.

STARFISH

Starfish are animals that can reproduce by fragmentation because starfish eat oysters, people
used to think starfish can be killed by chopping them into pieces and throwing the pleces back in
the water little did they know that they were helping the starfish multiply
FLATWORMS

Most living flatworms, such as planaria, are aquatic. Flatworms can reproduce asexually by
regeneration. When a planaria regenerates, it is cut into two and each part regrows in to a whole
individual.

Annellids

Earthworms and leeches are annelids. Most annelids reproduce sexually. Earthworms are
hermaphrodites, but an individual worm cannot fertilize its own eggs. For mating to occur, two
earthworms join head to tail. Together, they form a mucus coat around the joined part of their
bodies. Each earthworm injects sperm into the mucus. Sperm from one worm moves to the
pouchlike seminal receptacle of the other. At about the same time, eggs are also released. After
several days, a mucus and a chitin sheath is secreted by the clitellum, a swelling around the sex
organs. Afterward, when the worm wriggles to move out of the clitellum, fertilization occurs and
a cocoon is formed. Weeks later, a baby worm hatches and slips out of the cocoon.

MOLLUSKS

Mollusks, such as land snails, are hermaphroditic. But in most aquatic species, the sexes are
distinct. Eggs are fertilized internally. Cephalopods, such as squids, have separate sexes.

ARTHROPODS

Spiders, insects, centipedes, scorpions, shrimps, crabs, and lobsters are all arthropods. The most
numerous of these are the insects.The growth and development of insects usually involve
metamorphosis, which is a pfocess of transforming in a different shape and form. In incomplete
metamorphosis, the young look like the adults. These young are called nymphs.

VERTEBRATES
Vertebrates undergo sexual reproduction, which starts with fertilization. Depending on the
animal, fertilization may occur either outside or inside the female’s body.

Some fishes and amphibians reproduce by external fertilization, in which the sperm fertilizes the
egg outside the female’s body. Fish and amphibians lay their eggs in water or in very moist
areas.

With internal fertilization, the egg and sperm join inside the female’s body. Reptiles, birds,
mammals and some fishes reproduce by internal fertilization. Reptiles lay their eggs on land. To
prevent the eggs from drying out, the embryos within the reptile eggs are each surrounded by a
watertight protective membrane called chorion.

Amniotic eggs are also found in birds and mammals. The shell of bird egg is hard enough to
withstand the weight of the adult bird during incubation.
The most primitive mammals, the monotremes, lay are oviparous and eggs like the reptiles. The
living mohotremes include the duck-billed platypus and the echidna. No other mammals lay
eggs.

Other mammals, such as marsupials and placental mammals, bear their young alive. The young
of these mammals are nourished and protected by their mother. Marsupials, like the kangaroo,
are viviparous and bear their young alive.

Placental mammals give birth to their young alive. After birth, most placental mammals provide
their young with a period of care. The duration of this parental care varies among different
species. The young of monkeys and humans are helpless at birth and for quite some time. These
infants depend on their mother for food and protection, and they spend several years growing up
before they are able to live on their own.