Each parent passes one copy of every gene to its offspring — that's the core of Mendelian inheritance. In this experiment, each dragon chromosome stick has a dominant side and a recessive side, and the side that lands face-up determines which gene version the baby receives. When you decode each resulting gene pair, you see directly how paired genes from two parents combine to produce visible traits like wing shape or tail type.

Paired genes follow rules of dominance, where one version can override another to determine a trait like coat color. Crossing black and white mice reveals these rules in action. Some pairings produce only one fur color because the dominant gene masks the recessive one. Other pairings produce a surprising mix — showing that both parents carried a hidden recessive gene all along.

Every trait you inherit comes from paired genes, one from each parent. A coin toss models this process neatly: heads gives the dominant trait, tails gives the recessive one. As a result, you can use Punnett squares to predict how two parents with known genotypes (genetic codes) produce different phenotypes (visible traits) in their offspring.

Offspring can look very different from their parents because some traits hide for a generation — recessive genes only show when paired together. In this scenario, dominant traits produce harmless dwarves with frog tongues, while recessive traits produce dangerous giants with dagger teeth. Punnett squares and genotype tables then reveal which parent plants carry hidden monster alleles passed through paired genes.