Here's a breakdown:
* Each parent contributes half of the offspring's genetic material. This means that the offspring inherits a set of genes from its mother and another set from its father.
* Genes are located on chromosomes. Chromosomes are long, thread-like structures found in the nucleus of every cell.
* During fertilization, a sperm cell from the father fuses with an egg cell from the mother. This fusion creates a single cell called a zygote, which contains the complete set of genetic instructions for the offspring.
* These genes determine many of the offspring's traits, such as its physical appearance, its susceptibility to certain diseases, and even its behavior.
This process of inheriting genes from parents is called sexual reproduction, and it is the most common mode of reproduction in animals.