Living things can reproduce in two ways. In sexual reproduction, a male gamete and a female gamete join together. This joining is called fusion. The gametes are sperm cells and egg cells in animals, and pollen cells and egg cells in flowering plants. Gametes are formed by meiosis, and meiosis makes cells that are not identical to each other.
Because the offspring receive genetic information from two different parents, that information is mixed. This leads to variety in the offspring, so brothers and sisters look different from each other.
In asexual reproduction, one parent is enough. No gametes fuse and there is no mixing of genetic information. Only mitosis is involved, and mitosis makes identical cells. The offspring are therefore genetically identical to the parent. They are called clones.
