Many of you are really curious about this unit because I've noticed many kept flipping to the pages of this chapter. Well, here are some interesting insights into this topic :
1. Why living things reproduce?
All living things will die some day because of old age, illnesses, diseases, accidents or attack by predators. So reproduction in living things helps to ensure their own kind to continue to exist on Earth. What happens if living things can no longer ensure their survival? Yes, they become extinct.
Let's take a look at some of the animals that are already extinct.
What is the difference between extinct and endangered?
2. From parents to young
A family tree is a good way to show how people who are not our immediate family are related to one another.
When living things reproduce, some characteristics or traits of the parents are passed on to the young. So the young inherit these characteristics from their parents. When traits are passed from the parents to their young, that is called heredity. This traits are passed through structures called genes.
Let's learn more about genes. This will be great for out trip to the DNA laboratory.
What are genes?
Let's look at some of the traits that we can see:
Some of these traits are
- colour of our eyes, hair and skin
- height
- dimples
- ability to roll the tongue
- attached or detached ear lobes
in animals,
- colour of their fur
in plants.
- colour of the flowers
Asexual Reproduction vs Sexual Reproduction
We've discussed the differences between the two.
Here's a picture of one of my cats Bobo and look at picture when she's a tiny kitten. Can you spot her belly button? Remember we discussed about what umbilical cord is? Take a look.
