The process of bringing an egg and sperm together is called fertilization, which takes about 24 hours. After intercourse, the male partner ejaculates sperm, which is able to swim to the cervical canal in the vagina. The sperm releases proteolytic enzymes that dissolve the cervical mucus and swim from the uterine cavity into the fallopian tube, where it unites with the egg in the abdomen of the fallopian tube. It takes 1-1.5 hours for the sperm to travel from the vagina to the abdomen of the fallopian tube. The sperm then enters the zona pellucida of the oocyte through the release of acrosomal enzymes later to fertilize the process, which begins when the nuclei of the sperm and egg fuse together, marking the completion of the fertilization process. If the sperm is ejaculated first and expelled after the follicle, the sperm survival time is 24-72 hours.