Reproduction is the biological process by which living things create new members of their species. When animals reproduce, they have offspring: cats have kittens, birds lay eggs that hatch into chicks, and humans have babies. Plants reproduce too, spreading seeds that grow into new plants or sending out runners that sprout into new plants.

Reproduction is essential to life on Earth. Without it, species would die out within a single generation. Every creature alive today exists because an unbroken chain of its ancestors successfully reproduced, stretching back millions of years.

The word can also mean making a copy of something, like a reproduction of a famous painting in a museum gift shop or a reproduction of an ancient artifact for students to study.