Plant & Animal Reproduction
Describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals, including sexual and asexual reproduction in plants
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe sexual reproduction in plants: pollination, fertilisation, seed production
- Give examples of asexual reproduction in plants: runners (strawberries), bulbs, cuttings
- Compare reproduction in egg-laying animals (birds, frogs) vs live-bearing mammals
The lesson
You already know that pollen must land on a flower before a seed can form. Once pollen reaches the flower's egg cell, something new happens: fertilisation. This is when the pollen and the egg cell join together. Fertilisation is the moment a new seed begins to grow.
Not every new plant needs a seed at all. Some plants make copies of themselves without pollen or fertilisation. This is called asexual reproduction. A strawberry plant sends out long stems called runners. Wherever a runner touches the soil, it grows its own roots and becomes a new strawberry plant. Onions and tulips grow from bulbs, underground food stores that sprout fresh plants each year.
Mia snips a small piece of stem from a spider plant and stands it in a glass of water. After two weeks, tiny roots appear. She plants it in soil, and it grows into a brand new spider plant, an exact copy of the parent. No seed was ever needed. This piece of stem is called a cutting.
Animals reproduce in two main ways too. Birds and frogs lay eggs that hatch outside the body. Mammals, like cats, dogs, and humans, give birth to live babies that grew inside the mother. Egg-laying animals often have many babies at once, since fewer eggs survive. Live-bearing animals usually have fewer babies, but they protect them for longer.
Plants can grow from seeds through pollination and fertilisation, or without seeds through runners, bulbs, and cuttings; animals hatch from eggs or are born live.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.