Describe the location and function of the female gonads. How many of the numerous eggs contained by the ovaries will ever mature?
The ovaries are the female gonads. Held in place by large ligaments, the ovaries are housed in the lower abdomen. The ovaries, like the testes in the male, carry out two primary functions: gamete production and sex hormone secretion. Each ovary, from birth, contains a set number of oocytes, or initial egg cells. Only a fraction of the estimated 100,000 to 1,000,000 eggs contained in both ovaries will ever mature during the process of ovulation. In humans, the remaining egg cells deteriorate and disappear entirely when women near the age of fifty.
