Editing Sexual maturity (section)

{{Short description|Portion of a life cycle in which an organism is capable of sexual reproduction}}
{{Ref-improve|date=September 2021}}
'''Sexual maturity''' is the capability of an [[organism]] to [[reproduce]]. In humans, it is related to both [[puberty]] and  [[adulthood]].<ref name="McNamara">{{cite book|author=Thomas Edward McNamara| title =Evolution, Culture, and Consciousness: The Discovery of the Preconscious Mind| isbn = 0-7618-2765-X | publisher = [[University Press of America]] | year = 2004 | pages = 262–263|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BeLmG7HP_U0C&pg=PA262}}</ref>  ''Puberty'' is the biological process of sexual maturation, while ''adulthood'', the condition of being socially recognized as an independent person capable of giving consent and taking responsibility, generally implies sexual maturity (certain [[Disorders of sex development|disorders of sexual development]] notwithstanding), but depends on other criteria, defined by specific [[Cultural competence|cultural expectations]].<ref name="McNamara"/><ref name="Sanfilippo">{{cite book|author=Joseph S. Sanfilippo |author2=Eduardo Lara-Torre |author3=D. Keith Edmonds |author4=Claire Templeman | title =Clinical Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology|isbn = 978-0-203-09178-4 | publisher = [[CRC Press]] | year = 2008 | page = 34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oM_KBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT34|quote=The definition of puberty alone can encompass the process of sexual maturation, but a more expansive approach is to think of puberty in combination with the term adolescence. This differentiation prompts the practitioner to consider the psychological, behavioral, and social changes of the adolescent who is experiencing pubertal development.}}</ref>

Most [[multicellular]] organisms are unable to [[sexually reproduce]] at birth (animals) or germination (e.g. plants): depending on the species, it may be days, weeks, or years until they have developed enough to be able to do so; in addition, certain cues may trigger an organism to become sexually mature. These may be external, such as drought, or fire, that triggers sexual maturation of  certain plants, or internal, such as percentage of body fat (certain animals). Internal cues are not to be confused with [[Hormone|hormones]], the chemical signals that initiate cellular processes leading to sexual maturity, but the production and secretion of hormones is triggered by such cues. In some species, immature males may delay sexual maturation in the presence of another sexually mature male, as in the male [[chicken]] (rooster), due to the intense, often lethal, combat engaged in by mature males. The female [[Honey bee|honeybee]] only becomes sexually mature if it is fed a special substance ("[[royal jelly]]") during the larval stage.