# Sperm Production

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 24, 2000, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317 "2000-09-24T00:13:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317/1 "2000-09-24T00:13:36Z")

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On ml. of ejaculation contains 100,000,000 to 200,000,00 spermatozoa. The spermatogenic cells must be undergoing meiosis at a phenomenal rate. Those are the only male cells that undergo meiosis. I guess in only those cells are the proper genes allowing that process expressed. But my q. is are they undergoing meiosis (i.e., producing spermatozoa) constantly? And if they are, what happens to all of them if a man doesn’t ejaculate. They are stored temporarily in the epididymus and the seminal vesicles, but if not ejaculated, where do they go? Do they merely die like other cells? And if spermatozoa are not constantly being produced, at what rate are they?

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317/2 "2000-09-24T00:34:03Z")

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[http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/resource-room/reprod/all/animations/sperm-development.htm](http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/resource-room/reprod/all/animations/sperm-development.htm)

Check this little flash animation re sperm development!

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**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317/3 "2000-09-24T02:56:18Z")

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I think they’re like milk, and expire after a time, whether they’re ejaculated or not. I imagine their “corpses” are broken down like all other dead cells in the body and removed or recycled.

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317/4 "2000-09-24T07:13:38Z")

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I remember from High School Bio that sperm have a pretty short lifetime, and when they die they just get reabsorbed into the body. But you produce the little buggers extremely quickly. Millions per day, as I recall.

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**Author:** ![Skribbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Skribbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skribbler)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317/5 "2000-09-24T16:20:34Z")

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Unused sperm flow into the urinary tract and are expelled when the ‘storage area’ becomes too full. Lab techs who do urine tests often find sperm in them, especially in older men who aren’t actively disposing of them as fast as younger men do.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sperm-production/34317/6 "2000-09-24T16:34:24Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AWB \*  
> **I think they’re like milk**

I keep trying to tell Mrs. C that, but NO, does she listen?