Juvenile (organism)

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A juvenile is an individual organism (especially an animal) that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles can look very different from the adult form, particularly in colour, and may not fill the same niche as the adult form.^[1] In many organisms the juvenile has a different name from the adult (see List of animal names).

Some organisms reach sexual maturity in a short

Many invertebrates cease development upon reaching adulthood. The stages of such invertebrates are larvae or nymphs.

In vertebrates and some invertebrates (e.g. spiders), larval forms (e.g. tadpoles) are usually considered a development stage of their own, and "juvenile" refers to a post-larval stage that is not fully grown and not sexually mature. In amniotes, the embryo represents the larval stage. Here, a "juvenile" is an individual in the time between hatching/birth/germination and reaching maturity.

Examples

• For animal larval juveniles, see larva
• Juvenile birds or bats can be called fledglings
• For cat juveniles, see kitten
• For dog juveniles, see puppy
• For human juvenile life stages, see
  childhood and adolescence, an intermediary period between the onset of puberty
  and full physical, psychological, and social adulthood

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