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, 22:19, 6 July 2010
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Mating.jpg|right|frame]]
*Date: 1509
==Definitions==
*1 archaic : [[equal]], match
*2 : to join or fit together : couple
*3 a : to join [[together]] as mates
:b : to provide a mate for
==Description==
In [[biology]], '''mating''' is the pairing of [[opposite]]-[[sex]] or hermaphroditic [[organisms]] for [[Sexual Intercourse|copulation]] and in [[social]] [[animals]] it also includes the raising of their offspring. For animals, mating [[methods]] include random mating, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disassortative_mating disassortative mating], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assortative_mating assortative mating], or a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mating_pool mating pool].
In some birds, it includes such [[behaviors]] as nest-building and feeding [[offspring]]. The [[human]] [[practice]] of mating domesticated animals and of artificially inseminating them is part of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_husbandry animal husbandry].
Copulation is the [[union]] of the [[sex]] organs of two sexually [[reproducing]] [[animals]] for insemination and subsequent [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_fertilization internal fertilization]. The two [[individuals]] may be of opposite [[sexes]] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodite hermaphroditic], as is the case with, for example, snails.
==See also==
*[[Sexuality]]
*[[Reproduction]]
*[[Sexual Intercourse]]
[[Category: Biology]]