A Mating

In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology" title="Biology" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">biology</a>, <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">mating (or <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">mateing in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences" title="American and British English spelling differences" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">British English</a>) is the pairing of either opposite-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex" title="Sex" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sex</a>or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodite" title="Hermaphrodite" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">hermaphroditic</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organism" title="Organism" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">organisms</a>, usually for the purposes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_reproduction" title="Sexual reproduction" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sexual reproduction</a>. Some definitions limit the term to pairing between animals,<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"></a> while other definitions extend the term to mating in plants and fungi. <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilization" title="Fertilization" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Fertilization</a> is the fusion of both <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_cell" title="Germ cell" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sex cell</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamete" title="Gamete" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">gamete</a>.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"></a> <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copulation_(zoology)" title="Copulation (zoology)" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Copulation</a> is the union of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_organ" title="Sex organ" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sex organs</a> of two sexually reproducing animals for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insemination" title="Insemination" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">insemination</a> and subsequent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_fertilization" title="Internal fertilization" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">internal fertilization</a>. Mating may also lead to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_fertilization" title="External fertilization" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">external fertilization</a>, as seen in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibians" title="Amphibians" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">amphibians</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish" title="Fish" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">fishes</a> and plants. For the majority of species, mating is between two individuals of opposite sexes. However, for some hermaphroditic species, copulation is not required because the parent organism is capable of self-fertilization (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproduction#Autogamy" title="Reproduction" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">autogamy</a>); for example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_slug" title="Banana slug" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">banana slugs</a>.