Is a human sperm cell considered a live animal inand of itself, or it
it just a peice of a body like, say, skin or blood?  Sorry for the low
pricing, but this will settle a bet of $5.00

Hello Ansonia,

I hope this will put you on the winning end of the bet!

Sperm (or spermatozoa) are not separate animals in and of themselves. 
They are tiny (but important!) parts of the whole - they only have
half of the genetic material necessary to be considered a "living
being".  Spermatozoa are just cells with a specialized ability:

"What Is Sperm?
A sperm is a very tiny male sex cell."

Male Puberty
http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p1863.htm

"Subject: re: What is Sperm? post id: 288371 

Sperm have half the required numver of Chromosomes, and no
mitochondria, and no cytoplasmic membrane. AFAIK, they also lack a
Golgi apparatus, ribosomes.... most of the cellular machinery. Well,
they do have mitochondria, but these drop off , just as the sperm
enters the ovum; they only power the "swimming" motion."

What is sperm?
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn-old/archive2001/posts/April/topic287188.shtm

"Q: What is sperm?

A: A sperm is a tiny cell. It contains half the genetic material that
is needed to make a human being. A sperm cell is needed to fertilize a
woman's egg to make a baby."

Boys Q&A
http://www.kotex.com/info/faqs/qa/qaBoys.asp

"Sperm Definition: The male reproductive cell."

Discovery Online Curriculum
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/pdf/invitro/invitro.pdf

Hope this helps!

--Missy

Search terms:  [ "what is sperm" ] and [ sperm define ]

In order to really answer this question, you need to clarify what you
mean by "a living animal" and "alive."  These are tricky questions! 
In many ways a sperm is as "alive" as a virus -- they both do many of
the things that living organisms do, but cannot reproduce on their
own.  Of course, there is a lot of debate as to whether a virus is
"alive."!

Hello
I agree with missy-ga's point that it only contains half the genetic
material.
I think by one definition an animal or living organism like bacteria
can reproduce itself, a spermatozoa cannot.
regards
lot-ga

I am a scientist of 25 years, having spent much of my career working
with spermatozoa.  If one accepts that, to be considered "a live
animal in and of itself", the entity must 1) be able to sustain itself
and 2) reproduce itself, then a spermatozoon is not such.

A sperm cell contains certain elements that allow it to remain "alive"
for a short period of time.  These elements are various, but the most
important are a plasma membrane (effectively sealing the cell,
allowing only certain things to come through) and mitochondira
(energy-producing organelles).  However, even when the sperm cell is
intact and "healthy", its environment MUST be a very precise one in
order to maintain that status.  Thus, it can only survive in the male
reproductive tract, in the female reproductive tract (and only when
certain conditions are present) and in certain artificial
environments.  EVEN THEN, it can only survive for very short periods
of time (a day or two) under the most optimal conditions.  The poor
devils have a finite life span.  [Contrast this with viruses, many of
which are able to maintain themselves outside of a host, remainging
intact until they can find one.]

The second issue of inability to reproduce itself is not just a matter
of only having half the genetic material of a human being.  If one
sperm could produce another sperm, it would still be reproducing
itself.  However, the sperm cell does not have the "equipment" to make
a full copy of itself.  Thus, it flunks this test as well.  [The
virus, in contrast, is able to take control of a cell and force it to
reproduce ON ITS BEHALF.  Very clever.]

JCG

This is, as someone else said, a tricky question.  I don't disagree
with the answer, but I wanted to point out that what one tends to call
moss has cells with only half the genetic material.

The diploid cells (the part with all the chromosomes) are partly or
fully dependent on the haploid part for survival, much like sperm are
dependent on people to live.  So the situation is backward from our
point of view.  If you were to ask this question of a bit of moss, and
the moss could answer, it might tell you that the diploid cells (the
ones with all the chromosomes) are merely a part of the haploid plant.

For more info on moss, see:

http://www.wfu.edu/~fuller5/moss.htm
and 
http://www.sbs.auckland.ac.nz/student_information/biology_web_pages/nzplants/moss_lifecycle.htm

Also, while the fern we think of is the diploid (all chomosomes
version--like ourselves), the haploid generation is it's own
independent plant, though small.
http://www.sbs.auckland.ac.nz/student_information/biology_web_pages/nzplants/ferns_sexual_reproduction.htm