An individual’s mother has blond hair and blue eyes. That individual’s father has brown hair and brown eyes. The individual, however, has brown hair and blue eyes. How did that individual inherit a "mixture" of traits rather than either maternal (blonde hair and blue eyes) OR paternal (brown hair and brown eyes) traits?·maternal and paternal chromosomes sort independently·maternal chromosomes and paternal chromosomes remain together·one of the gametes was missing a chromosome

Alleles for a gene are present on a particular locus on homologous chromosomes. Meiosis includes the pairing of homologous chromosomes and their segregation of opposite poles. One member of a homologous pair is paternal and the other is inherited from mother.

The random arrangement of homologous chromosomes at the equator of the cell during metaphase I result in independent segregation of paternal and maternal chromosomes to opposite poles during anaphase I. This leads to new combinations of traits in the progeny which were otherwise not present in either parent.