In each species, the chromosomes are always an even pair. That's because chromosomes occur in HOMOLOGOUS PAIRS, 1 from the mother, 1 from the father.
The total number of chromosomes is called the DIPLOID number. The number from 1 parent is called the HAPLOID number.
The chromsomes in a homologous pair are NOT IDENTICAL as they are 1 from each parent. They have the information for the same genes, eg.for hair colour, BUT DIFFERENT ALLELES, different codes for the same gene, eg.maternal - brown hair, paternal - blond hair.
During MEIOSIS, the halving of these chromosomes is done in a way so that each daughter cell recieves 1 chromosome from each homologous pair, so 1 set of information for each characteristic.
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