Offspring and inheritance

In a nutshell

We share many characteristics with our parents, however, we are not identical to them. It is important to understand where our characteristics come from. 

Offspring

Definition

When living things reproduce, they have children. These children are called offspring. 

Inheritance

Offspring inherit characteristics from their parents. This means that your parents' characteristics have been passed onto you as part of your genes when you were born. 

Example

We might share things like our eye colour or nose shape with our parents because we inherited these characteristics.

Living things produce offspring of the same kind.

Example

An elephant will produce a baby elephant.

Example

A daisy will produce another daisy. 

However, this does not mean that the offspring will be identical to a parent. This is because offspring inherit characteristics from both parents, so they are a unique combination of these characteristics. On top of this, not all characteristics are inherited - some may come from your daily life.

Example

You might have blue eyes from your mum, brown hair from your dad and a scar from when you fell off your bike.