9 Crazy Facts About The Female Ova

Eggs, glorious eggs! These magical reproductive powerhouses are what makes the world of babies go around, but how much do you really know about the female ova?

Well, we don’t think you know that much about eggs at all. Here are 9 facts to get you educated.

1. Eggs Get Made Fast

We might think of eggs as something that our body worries about when we’re old, but in fact egg production starts at just nine weeks… following conception. That’s right, little baby girls are making eggs just nine weeks after they’re created, and by the time they’re five months old, female foetuses have made around 7 million oocytes on average. However, by the time birth rolls along, many of those immature cells have died, which is totally normal.

2. Comparatively, They’re Huge

Eggs are cells, and compared to the other cells that are present in the human body, they’re pretty huge. An egg is about 100 microns (a.k.a. millions of a metre) in diameter, which makes them roughly the same size as a strand of hair. There isn’t a single cell in the body that is that big, which is pretty impressive in our eyes.

3. There Aren’t That Many

Yes we know you’ve heard it all before, but let us lay it out for you again. Eggs are special. The average woman ovulates only 400-500 in her entire life. This makes eggs way more precious and rarer than sperm. In fact, more sperm cells get let lose in one ejaculation than what a woman produces in her entire life. Amazing!

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