why meiosis produces haploid cells

Meiosis, on the other hand, is a specialized form of cell division that occurs in organisms that reproduce sexually, it produces reproductive cells, such as sperm cells, egg cells, and spores in plants and fungi.

In humans, special cells called germ cells undergo meiosis and ultimately give rise to sperm or eggs. Germ cells contain a complete set of 46 chromosomes (23 maternal chromosomes and 23 paternal chromosomes). By the end of meiosis, the resulting reproductive cells, or gametes , each have 23 genetically unique chromosomes.

The overall process of meiosis produces four daughter cells from one single parent cell. Each daughter cell is haploid, because it has half the number of chromosomes as the original parent cell.

“Meiosis is a reductional division. ” 

Unlike in mitosis, the daughter cells produced during meiosis are genetically diverse. Homologous chromosomes exchange bits of DNA to create genetically unique, hybrid chromosomes destined for each daughter cell.