Final answer:
Blood is brought to the kidney by the renal artery, which is a short branch of the abdominal aorta.
Step-by-step explanation:
The short branch of the abdominal aorta that brings blood to the kidney is called the renal artery. Each renal artery branches off the aorta and divides into segmental arteries, interlobar arteries, arcuate arteries, and cortical radiate arteries, which further branch into afferent arterioles. These arterioles enter capillaries that supply the nephrons, essential for filtering the blood and forming urine.
The abdominal aorta arises from the fusion of the paired dorsal aortae during embryonic development. The paired dorsal aortae are continuous with the aortic arches in the embryologic head region which, in turn, arise from the aortic sac. The aortic sac gives rise to the ascending aorta.