Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms, known as offspring, are produced from their parent or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life, and each individual organism exists as the result of reproduction. There are two forms of reproduction: asexual and sexual.
Asexual reproduction is a process by which organisms create genetically similar or identical copies of themselves without the contribution of genetic material from another organism. Examples of asexual reproduction include binary fission in bacteria, budding in hydras and yeasts, and viruses taking control of host cells to produce more viruses.
Sexual reproduction is a biological process that creates a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms in a process that starts with meiosis, a specialized type of cell division. Each of the two parent organisms contributes half of the genetic material to the offspring, resulting in a genetically unique individual. Examples of animals that reproduce sexually include sea turtles, while green algae and brittle stars can reproduce asexually or sexually.
Reproduction enables and ensures the continuity of species, generation after generation, and is the main feature of life on earth.
