Sexual characteristics are physical traits of an
organism (typically of a sexually dimorphic organism) which are indicative of its biological
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...
. These can include
sex organs used for reproduction and
secondary sex characteristics which distinguish the sexes of a species, but which are not directly part of the reproductive system.
Humans
In humans,
sex organs or
primary sexual characteristics, which are those a person is born with, can be distinguished from
secondary sex characteristics, which develop later in life, usually during
puberty. The development of both is controlled by
sex hormones produced by the body after the initial fetal stage where the presence or absence of the
Y-chromosome and/or the
SRY gene determine development.
Hormones that express sexual differentiation in humans include:
*
estrogens
*
progesterone
Progesterone (P4) is an endogenous steroid and progestogen sex hormone involved in the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and embryogenesis of humans and other species. It belongs to a group of steroid hormones called the progestogens and is the m ...
*
androgens such as
testosterone
Typical sexual characteristics
The following table lists the typical sexual characteristics in humans:
Invertebrates and plants
In
invertebrates and
plants,
hermaphrodite
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...
s (which have both male and female reproductive organs either at the same time or during their life cycle) are common, and in many cases, the norm.
In other varieties of multicellular life (e.g. the
fungi division,
Basidiomycota
Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...
) sexual characteristics can be much more complex, and may involve many more than two sexes. For details on the sexual characteristics of fungi, see:
Hypha
A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium.
Structure
A hypha consists of one or ...
and
Plasmogamy.
See also
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Mammalian gestation
In mammals, pregnancy is the period of reproduction during which a female carries one or more live offspring from implantation in the uterus through gestation. It begins when a fertilized zygote implants in the female's uterus, and ends once it ...
*
Reproduction
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual or ...
*
Sex and gender distinction
*
Sexual differentiation
References
{{Authority control
Sexual anatomy