A wolf’s diploid number of chromosomes is 78. How would the number of chromosomes in the wolf’s body cells compare to the number of chromosomes in its gametes?

Question

anonymous · Answer

A creature who is diploid has two pairs of chromosomes, so in this case the wolf has 39 pairs of homologous chromosomes.  When forming gametes, cells undergo meiosis, and receive only one set of the pairs of chromosomes...becoming what are known has haploid cells.  Because these cells only have one of each pair of homologous chromosomes, they will have a total of 39.

Another way to think about it would be this.  The wolf is a diploid creature.  It's gametes must have half of the total number of chromosomes so that, when it has offspring, it's gametes will combine with the gametes of another wolf to form a wolf embryo with the correct amount of chromosomes.