In the human female reproductive system, growth process in which the primary egg cell (or ovum) becomes a mature ovum. In any one human generation, the egg’s development starts before the female that carries it is even born; 8 to 20 weeks after the fetus has started to grow, cells that are to become mature ova have been multiplying, and by the time that the female is born, all of the egg cells that the ovaries will release during the active reproductive years of the female are already present in the ovaries. These cells, known as the primary ova, number around 400,000. The primary ova remain dormant until just prior to ovulation when an egg is released from the ovary. Some egg cells may not mature for 40 years; others degenerate and never mature.
