Did I wreck my boy sway?

[atomic sagebrush]

but I never would have thought of it if you hadn't asked a good q Hobber. Now I can use that analogy for everyone!!

[Hobbermittens]

One more question. So when they are in the woman's reproductive tract, how are they "stored"? I mean, are they the same as the jelly beans in the balls--layered--or are they all a jumble in there, waiting, as each batch is deposited from each attempt?

[atomic sagebrush]

They're all a jumble, the idea being that the sperm "like" to wait in certain areas (like cervical crypts and the junction between the tubes and the uterus) kinda like a doctor's waiting room - so over the course of time, some of them are capacitating and going on little jaunts to see if there's anything to fertilize while others stay behind and chill out waiting for their "appointment". In the meantime, any new arrivals just go into the waiting room and do the exact same thing so there are "old" sperm capacitating, "old" sperm waiting, new sperm capacitating, new sperm waiting, some sperm both new and old that have gone bad and died, all in various stages along the way. Sperm are like Boy Scouts, they like to be prepared and they seem capable of some form of bizarre communication so there are always some at the ready should the egg arrive.

[Hobbermittens]

Got it! I love "sperm are like boy scouts"...that made me laugh.

[zanacal]

Lol at the jellybeans - genius!

Also interesting about why blue swayers mightn't be getting pregnant as quickly as expected when doing so many things to boost fertility.

[atomic sagebrush]

Ah, so they don't survive long after capacitating? So what else do they do in there while they wait?? Being a sperm must be kind of boring.

I think they play yahtzee.

The length of time they live has to do with the environment, but some are always capacitated and some are always waiting, until they all die, of course.