Does the semen’s alkalinity deactivate it? How is something so small able to swim against the current in tight tissues?
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Have you ever heard of the dreaded Condiru? This nasty little fish has a penchant to swim up a man’s urethra while peeing into the Amazon.
My swimmers can navigate some slow flow.
It’s not like there’s a swift-moving river up there. More like a slow, steady stream. And the sperm have their tails to swim upstream faster, like salmon swimming up a stream. Most don’t make it, but there are a lot of them.
Several things matter here, but
1 sperms are very strong swimmers.
[If you look at the ratio of the tail to the head on a single sperm cell](https://images.pond5.com/circular-movement-single-sperm-cell-footage-201192684_iconl.jpeg) that’s kind of a rocket ship. Or a fighter jet. Right? Its a whole lot of propulsion relative to the payload it has to move. In fact, of all the various medical issues that can cause a man’s sperm to be not-effective, one of the things they look for are physically dysfunctional swimmers. “sperm motility” = are your swimmers actually swimming.
2 there’s a lot of them. Yes, that acidic environment is going to kill off some of them. But there’s millions of them and only one needs to make it.
3 its hydrophobic. It doesn’t mix well with other fluids. What that means is the ejaculate mix clumps up instead of spreading out and mixing with some other fluid (like bodily fluid).
Imagine 300 sperm cells are like 300 spartan soldiers. Now, imagine all that vaginal fluid is like the enemy, trying to stab and kill all those 300 spartans.
Now, if all the spartan sperm soldiers are just floating around loosely, and the enemy fluid is able so mix in and get to all of them, they can easily kill them all right?
[BUT, what if the spartan sperm troops all clump together in a tight formation?](https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.psu.edu/dist/2/10736/files/2014/04/00006081.jpg)
You’re still gonna get to all the guys on the outside edges, but its gonna be tough getting at the guys in the middle right? Cause they’re protected by the layers of guys around them. Similar idea. The ejaculate fluid clumps up and doesn’t mix well with the vaginal fluid, which helps act a a layer of shield against the hostile fluid, and then the whole sperm army of millions packed into its little sperm phalanx can spare a few ranks of troops on the edges, but SOMEONE will survive long enough to invade the egg kingdom
Accuracy by volume. The sheer number of sperm dumped in there is mind boggling, most of them don’t make it.
A woman’s reproductive tract varies in acidity. During ovulation it becomes less acidic and the cervical mucus thins to make it easier for sperm to enter. While the vagina is acidic, the cervix and womb are much friendlier to sperm. The walls of the womb contract and ripple to help the sperm reach the fallopian tubes. The fluid in the tube further helps sperm, providing it with a nutrient boost to help it on the final leg of it’s journey.
Sperm don’t really swim in the vagina. They are deposited by ejaculation close to the cervix, and they enter the uterus through the cervix. If the woman orgasms, it causes the cervix to contract and dip into the pool of semen, so fellas make sure your lady cums!
This post, and most of the responses, seem to suggest that most guys have no idea what goes on inside a lady.
So thinking about the great cosmos and all the events in place for making you possible, Be great and proud of yourself. Look around be the best you, you can be!
because 1 life is determinant and the sperm against all odds will find a way and 2 the vagina also releases a mucus or something that guides them to the egg and 3 the vagina quite literally sucks up the semen into it
The real question is how does one out of hundreds of millions of sperm make it?
Its a numbers game, and also a matter of having high quality sperm and a functioning reproductive system in women also.
Sperm are motile, meaning they can move to an extent. They dont move far, fast, in a manner of hare vs tortoise, but relatively speaking, sperm can move as fast as one cm per hour, which is rather fast. Some or much sperm will only move about 2.5.cm a day. Thats apparently average. Its better to have sperm that are slightly or much faster than average. This is, in fact the Procreation Olympic Games after all. Some of those little guys wont make it through the first heat, and only a few will finish with a silver medal. Only one gets the Gold. And that isnt even always the case.
The other thing is, most of the sperm will be deposited directly onto the cervix, which is the opening of the uterus. The cervix stays mostly closed, absent a birthing event or an OBGYN procedure, but the opening is technically indeed (slightly) open for business 24/7. So many surviving sperm simply wiggle inside. Some just die. Its survival of the fittest, at its core.
The uterus is also generally an acidic environment, except during ovulation and perhaps a few days prior, when uterine conditions are a little less uncomfortable, chemically, in order to allow for implantation to happen easier.
Theres a few allowances offered by an ovulating womans body to at least somewhat encourage the swimmers. The chemical aspect can make it a more or less time intensive journey,
Additionally, her own orgasm might add to a womans body making even more allowances, if she is ovulating anyways, by possibly having some internal added movement that can help to propel sperm to their intended destination.
https://ferticity.com/time-takes-sperm-to-reach-egg-after-sex/#:~:text=Following%20the%20ejaculation%2C%20the%20sperms,these%20tiny%20sperms%20to%20travel.
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