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5 facts about sperm

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Want to know which insect has the longest sperm cells? Or are you curious about what's in your own sperm? Here are the crazy facts.

By Robyn Addinall

Pic: Shutterstock

Article originally in Parent24

When it comes to making babies, sperm is a very important factor. There are some really strange and wonderful developments and facts about sperm that you may not know.

1. Why small males have big sperm

The moment the female squid lays her eggs smaller 'sneaker' males place packages of sperm by the her mouth in the hope that their sperm have a chance of fertilizing the eggs. Researchers found that this sperm is larger than that of the bigger males who mate directly with the female. "Sperm size is likely to be an adaptation to fertilization environment" said Dr Yoko from the University of Tokyo.

Find out more here

2. Giant sperm for little flies

Drosophila bifurca is a species of fruit fly. This little insect may seem insignificant but his sperm can be up to 5.8cm long when uncoiled! The humble fruit fly holds the title of having the longest sperm cells of any organism on Earth.

Want know more? Read here

3. Mouse sperm could help infertile couples

Researchers in Japan used embryonic stem cells to grow healthy mouse sperm, a development which could help treat human infertility. The research with mouse sperm could lead to developments where human sperm is grown and used to fertilise a human embryo.

Read the rest of the research here

4. What's in sperm?

Did you know that in the average volume of semen produced in a single ejaculation (which varies from 2 to 5 ml) contains citric acid, free amino acids, fructose, enzymes, phosphorylcholine, prostaglandin, potassium, and zinc!

Want to know more?

5. Sperm that glows

Watch this amazing video of modified fly semen travelling through a female fly's reproductive. This could help scientists work out how to treat infertility in humans in the future.

Watch the video here

Did you know these crazy facts about sperm?