Question

Why are homologous chromosomes not identical?

Answer 1

Each chromosome from homologous chromosome pair is inherited from each parent carrying same genes in same order. As they are from different individual, homologous chromosomes are not identical.

Answer 2

Homologous pairs are not identical because one comes from the mother (maternal) and one comes from the father (paternal). These chromosomes are similar but not identical as the alleles for each trait may not be the same.