Sperm reach egg

While you release only a single egg each month, your partner releases millions of sperm in a single ejaculation — all with their eye on that single prize. But only one of those sperm will be crowned the victor, and the odds are stacked against fertilization. Luckily, egg and sperm have developed some pretty nifty tricks to give themselves a fighting chance. Fortify the troops. The liquid portion of semen not only provides the sperm with nourishment for the journey, it actually coagulates in a woman's vagina after ejaculation, forming a physical barrier that prevents the sperm from wandering very far in the wrong direction.

When it comes to making a baby, the odds are stacked against any single sperm cell ever becoming a zygote through contact and penetration of a female egg. That's if a man has perfectly healthy sperm — and if he has enough of them. Let's look at the numbers: Each second, a man's body produces at least 1, sperm cells [source: Dell'Amore ]. On average, a man's ejaculate about 2.

Fig 1. The journey begins with millions of sperm cells that are released into the female reproductive tract during intercourse. The sperm cells gain their full ability to swim when they are ejaculated into the reproductive tract [ 1 ],[ 2 ]. Upon ejaculation, the sperm cells are enclosed in a fluid called seminal plasma or semen, which is a mix of fluids from the testes, seminal vesicles, prostate, and the bulbourethral glands. The fluid contains elements which protect the sperm cells during their journey towards the egg.

Achieving a healthy pregnancy is a complicated, multi-stage process involving two people. Every month, the female ovulates one mature egg from one of her ovaries. Here, it will begin to move slowly down the tube towards the womb uterus. However, for a pregnancy to develop it must first meet sperm from the male whilst it is still held in the fallopian tube. The sperm immediately begin swimming and some will find their way into the cervix.