A pair of lions copulating in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. A lion couple may copulate up to 40 times a day during their "honeymoon" period

Copulation is the union of the external sexual organs of two sexually reproducing animal organisms for insemination and for subsequent internal fertilization, which is fertilization of ova inside organisms. The two organisms may be of opposite sexes or hermaphroditic, as is the case with, for example, snails. This image (C) User:Pcb21, 2004. ... This image (C) User:Pcb21, 2004. ... Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The Lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae. ... Wildebeast and Zebra Migration in Masai Mara The Maasai Mara (also spelt Masai Mara) is a large park reserve in south-western Kenya, within the Great Serengeti region, and is effectively the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park and game reserve in Tanzania. ... A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, narrowly defined, is any of those parts of the body (which are not always bodily organs according to the strict definition) which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in a complex organism; namely: Male: penis (notably the glans penis... Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that results in increasing genetic diversity of the offspring. ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subregnum Agnotozoa Placozoa (trichoplax) Orthonectida (orthonectids) Rhombozoa (dicyemids) Subregnum Eumetazoa Radiata (unranked) (radial symmetry) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Bilateria (unranked) (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is a complex adaptive system of organs that influence each other in such a way that they function as a more or less stable whole and have properties of life. ... Insemination is the introduction of semen into the genital tract of a female. ... Internal fertilization is a form of animal fertilization of an ovum by spermatozoon within the body of an inseminated animal, whether female or hermaphroditic. ... A spermatozoon fertilising an ovum Fertilisation or fertilization (also known as conception, fecundation and syngamy) is fusion of gametes to form a new organism of the same species. ... A human ovum An ovum (from Latin, loosely, egg or egg cell) is a female sex cell or gamete. ... Look up Sex in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The 1st-century BC sculpture The Reclining Hermaphrodite, in the Museo Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme in Rome In zoology, a hermaphrodite is an organism of a species whose members possess both male and female sexual organs during their lives. ... The name snail applies to most members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells. ...

Animals initially lived only in water and reproduced by external fertilization in the water. Certain animals started migrating from oceans to the land during the Late Ordovician epoch about 450 million years ago, so they started reproducing through internal fertilization. This maintained gametes in their originally liquid medium. External fertilization is a form of fertilization in which a sperm cell is united with an egg cell external to the body of the female. ... The Late Ordovician, also called the Upper Ordovician by geologists, is the third epoch of the Ordovician period. ... Gametes, from the ancient Greek γαμετης (spouse), are the specialized germ cells that come together during fertilization (conception) in organisms that reproduce sexually. ...

One example of animals which reproduce through internal fertilization are insects. The female insects that copulate receive the spermarphores from the males' aedeagi through their ovipores. Classes & Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrate animals of the Class Insecta, the largest and (on land) most widely-distributed taxon within the phylum Arthropoda. ... An aedeagus (plural aedeagi) is a reproductive organ of male insects through which they secrete sperm from the testes during copulation with a female insect. ... An ovipore is a pore-like sexual organ of a female insect that gets inseminated by the spermatophores ejected by the aedeagus of a male insect during copulation. ...

Many other animals reproduce sexually with external fertilization, such as the low vertebrates (catfish and most amphibians). Middle vertebrates (fish other than catfish, reptiles and most birds,) reproduce with internal fertilization through cloacal copulation (see also hemipenes), unlike higher vertebrates, which copulate vaginally. Vertebrata is a subphylum of chordates, specifically, those with backbones or spinal columns. ... Families Akysidae Amblycipitidae Amphiliidae Ariidae Aspredinidae Astroblepidae Auchenipteridae Bagridae Callichthyidae Cetopsidae Chacidae Clariidae Claroteidae Cranoglanididae Diplomystidae Doradidae Hypophthalmidae Ictaluridae Lacantuniidae Loricariidae Malapteruridae Mochokidae Nematogenyidae Pangasiidae Parakysidae Pimelodidae Plotosidae Schilbeidae Scoloplacidae Siluridae Sisoridae Trichomycteridae Catfish (order Siluriformes) are a diverse group of fish. ... Subclasses and Orders Order Temnospondyli- extinct Subclass Lepospondyli- extinct Subclass Lissamphibia   Anura   Caudata   Gymnophiona Amphibians (class Amphibia) are a taxon of animals that include all tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) that do not have amniotic eggs. ... Orders See text. ... Orders See text. ... Orders Many - see section below. ... In zoological anatomy, a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts of certain animal species. ... An everted hemipene of a North American rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) Hemipenes are the paired reproductive organs of male snakes and lizards. ... For other uses, see Vagina (disambiguation). ...

Dragonfly

As for humans and their related hominids, a wide variety of terms are used (sexual intercourse or coitus, for example). See human sexual behavior for a discussion of the broader sense of sexual intercourse. Image File history File links Green_darner_mating_med. ... Image File history File links Green_darner_mating_med. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are biologically classified as bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or thinking man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - orangutans Gigantopithecus† Sivapithecus† Lufengpithecus† Ankarapithecus† Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - gorillas Pan - chimpanzees Homo - Humans and their immediate ancestors Ouranopithecus† Paranthropus† Australopithecus† Sahelanthropus† Orrorin† Ardipithecus† Kenyanthropus† The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... Coition of a Hemisected Man and Woman (c. ... A pair of lions copulating in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. ... Sexual activity in humans is an instinctive form of physical intimacy. ...

See also

• Reproduction
• Sexual arousal
• Sexual intercourse

For other uses, see Reproduction (disambiguation) Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms are produced. ... Sexual arousal is the process and state of an animal being ready for sexual activity. ... Coition of a Hemisected Man and Woman (c. ...

External links

• Introduction to Animal Reproduction
• Advantages of Sexual Reproduction