Some sperm cells swim faster and even poison their competition to climb to the top
To stack the odds in their favor, some sperm cells play dirty tricks on their competition.
It takes just one sperm to fertilize a woman’s egg and for each sperm that reaches the egg, there are millions that don’t. You probably knew that already, but here’s the thing: not all sperm cells are equal. Some have mutations in their DNA sequence that allow them to swim straighter, rather than in circles, and faster on average than their competition. What’s more, sperm cells can even employ gruesome tactics, such as poisoning their neighbors in order to enhance their odds of fertilizing the egg.
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