1 2 3 4 Next

Structural Adaptations in Animals An adaptation is a special structure or behavior that helps an organism survive in its environment.

All animals have adapted to have special structures that help them survive. These adaptations are ways that the animal can find food, find shelter, survive certain weather conditions, or protect themselves.

The video below talks about structural adaptations of animals living in the cold climate of the Scottish mountains. To watch the video, click the play button on the gray bar below.

Clip provided by Education Clip Library with permission from ITN Source

Catching & Taking in FoodWithout food, animals cannot survive. All animals have adapted to have structures that allow them to get food and take that food into their bodies. For example, sharks have a strong sense of smell that allows them to locate food, and they have teeth that allow them to attack their prey. Pelicans have enormous, pouched bills that they can expand to scoop fish up out of the ocean or other body of water.

Sharks and pelicans have different kinds of mouths that allow them to catch and eat different kinds of food.

Lizards have long, fast-moving tongues that allow them to catch insects. Cats have sharp teeth that can be used for tearing meat. Rabbits have dull, flat back teeth that help them chew up grass and other plants.

Giraffes have long necks that allow them to reach high into trees and get food. Hawks have sharp, curved beaks that allow them to catch and eat prey more easily. Hawks have excellent eyesight that helps them see small prey animals from very far away.

MovingMost animals can move from place to place. This allows them to look for food and water and to avoid being eaten by other animals. All animals have special structural adaptations that help them move. For example, ducks have webbed feet that allow them to be able to swim in the water and catch insects and small fish there. Rabbits, frogs, and kangaroos have powerful hind legs, which they use for jumping.

Animals have structures that help them move in their environments.

Cats have strong legs for running quickly after prey. Fish have fins that help them easily swim through the water. Birds have wings and feathers that help them fly.

Finding ShelterAdaptations also help animals to find shelter. For example, woodpeckers have sharp beaks that allow them to tunnel through trees and make hollows. They make their nests in these hollows. Squirrels and many other kinds of animals that cannot fly also live in trees. These animals often have claws that allow them to climb the trees easily.

The woodpecker and the squirrel both have structures that allow them to use trees for shelter.

Many animals, such as prairie dogs, foxes, and rabbits, live in burrows. These animals have feet with claws that can be used for digging.

Surviving the WeatherAdaptations also help plants and animals to survive weather conditions in their environment. For example, polar bears and wolves have thick fur and padded paws to help them survive the extreme weather of the Arctic. Emperor penguins, seals, and walruses have thick layers of blubber that help to keep them warm in cold areas.

Polar bears and emperor penguins have adaptations that help them survive in cold climates.

Protection from PredatorsAdaptations also help plants and animals to protect themselves. One method of protection is camouflage, which is when the animal's appearance helps it to blend into its environment. Some birds, insects, lizards, frogs, and other animals have special skin or outer covering that camouflages them and makes them hard for predators to see.

The lizard and the stick insect have outer coverings that camouflage them and protect them against predators.

Some animals protect themselves by mimicking, or looking similar, to other animals. This is called mimicry. One example of mimicry is a type of wasp that does not sting but looks similar to a stinging wasp.

Still other animals protect themselves with very sharp senses which result from the structure of their sense organs, such as noses. For example, rabbits have huge ears that they can use to hear predators with. Deer have an excellent sense of smell.

Prev 1 2 3 4 Next

Behavioral Adaptations in Animals Animals have adapted to have behaviors that help them survive in their environments.

There are many different environments on Earth, and many different types of animals live in most of these environments. Each animal has special behaviors that help it survive the climate conditions of the environment. Other behaviors help the animal escape from predators or find and catch food.

Some important types of behavioral adaptations are discussed more in the sections below.

Defense Against the Environment

Keeping cool in warm climates- Animals that live in very warm climates, such as

deserts, have behaviors that help keep them from getting dangerously hot. Many

desert animals are active only at night, when the temperatures have dropped. For

example, this gecko, which lives in desert areas of the southwestern United States,

stays in its burrow during very hot parts of the day. It comes out in search of food

during the night, when it is much cooler.

Surviving seasonal temperature changes- Many animals live in areas where the

weather changes from season to season. All of the wild animals in areas with very cold

winters have behaviors that help them to survive the cold. For example, flying birds

such as the tundra swan move to warmer parts of the world to avoid the colder weather

of winter. This is called migrating.

Animals also adapt to changes in the food available as a result of seasonal changes.

For example, some types of squirrels store nuts for winter, while bats, hedgehogs,

some squirrels, and some other animals hibernate in winter to survive the long period

when there is little food available.

Defense Against PredatorsMany animals are predators. That means that they hunt and eat other kinds of animals for food. But many predators are also prey, because they are eaten by other kinds of animals. All prey animals have behaviors that help protect them from predators.

For example, when opossums, like the ones shown below, feel threatened by a predator, they roll over onto their backs and appear to be dead. Predators usually attack only live animals, so they leave the "dead" opossums alone.

Another example of how animals have behaviors that protect them from predators is that the turtle pulls its head and feet up into its shell when it senses a predator. Horned lizards have still another protective behavior. They squirt a stream of blood out of their eyes at a predator. The blood tastes bad to some predators, and it also confuses them. Finally, snakes protect themselves by hissing, baring their fangs, and striking, or trying to bite a predator.

Stalking PreyJust as prey animals have behaviors that help defend them against predators, predators have behaviors that help them hunt prey more successfully. For example, many kinds of wild cats stalk their prey. This means that they hide in trees, tall grass, or close to the

ground and stay very still or move only very slowly. They watch for a prey animal to come near, and then they move very quickly from their hiding spot and attack the prey animal.

Comment on Lesson Prev 1 2 3 4 Next Copyright © 2014 Edmentum - All rights reserved.

Prev 1 2 3 4 Next

Structural Adaptations in Plants All plants have special structures that help them survive in their environments.

Why does a cactus look different from a lemon tree? It is because every plant has physical features that help the plant live in the environment where it grows wild.

For example, cacti live in the desert, so they have thick, fleshy bodies that are specially adapted for saving water. Lemon trees don't usually live in deserts, so they don't need to have special structures to save as much water.

The video below talks more about special plant features that may help the plants survive in different environments. Click on the video to watch.

Clip provided by Education Clip Library with permission from ITN Source

Some of the structural adaptations plants have include special leaves, roots, seeds, flowers, and protective structures. These will be discussed in more detail below.

Leaf AdaptationsSmooth, waxy leaves or stems can help a plant keep water inside during very hot, dry weather. It can also help keep plants from freezing during cold winters or allow them to dry quickly in wet areas, where fungus could grow quickly and harm the plants.

The cactus pads and the needle-like leaves of an evergreen both help save water and protect against extreme

temperatures.

Leaves can be large on plants that live in very dim light. This is so that there is a lot of leaf surface to catch as much sunlight as possible. In places where there is a lot of sunlight, leaves tend to be much smaller.

Root AdaptationsLong roots can help keep a tree or plant from being blown over by the wind. If the roots are close to the surface, they can also help the plant quickly take in water from strong rain. If the roots are deep, they can help a tree or plant reach water buried deep under ground.

Roots can have other jobs besides taking in water. While most plants take in the air they need through their leaves, mangrove trees take in air through their roots. Mangrove tree roots, like those shown below on the right, also prop the trees up out of the water.

Roots can have different shapes, sizes, and locations, but they hold plants in place and help them reach water

sources.

Seed AdaptationsNo plant lives forever. So, reproducing is very important for the survival of the plant species. Some plants reproduce by making seeds. Making and spreading seeds does

not help any one plant stay alive, but it helps make sure that other plants of the same kind can grow from the seeds and live.

Some seeds, like those of the dandelion plant, are very small and have light, fluffy structures on the end. These seeds can easily be carried far away by the wind.

Some seeds, like those of the strawberry plant, are found on or in fruit that the plant makes. Seeds found in fruit are usually spread by animals when the animals eat the fruit and then deposit the seeds in another location, along with their waste.

Dandelion seeds are spread by the wind, while strawberry seeds are spread by animals.

Coconut seeds are found inside the hard outer covering of coconut fruits. Coconut fruits are very large, and they float in water. This is the coconut trees' way of spreading their seeds.

Flower AdaptationsPollination is required for reproduction in many types of plants. In the pollination process, pollen must be transferred from male flowers, cones, or other reproductive structures to the female ones. Seeds then form from the fertilized female reproductive structures.

Birds and insects often carry pollen from one plant to another. Many plants have flowers in different colors and shapes that are designed to attract certain birds or insects so that pollen is transferred between flowers.

Flowers have colors and shapes that attract a certain kind of pollinators.

Flowers visited by hummingbirds are often pink or red and bell-shaped. Hummingbirds can see these colors of flowers best, and they can place their long, thin beaks inside the flower to drink nectar, which is a sweet, sticky substance the flower produces. Pollen from that flower gets onto the hummingbird's beak and is transferred to the next flower the bird visits.

Bees pick up pollen on their feet and legs as they crawl on the flowers. The pollen is transferred from their bodies to the next flowers the bee visits.

Protective Structure AdaptationsSpecial structures such as thorns or spines protect a plant from animals that would eat it. Cacti need spines because animals looking for water in the desert would eat the cacti if they were not covered with sharp spines.

Spines and thorns help keep animals from eating plants because the sharp needle-like structures would hurt an animal's mouth.

Prev 1 2 3 4 Close

Extinction When all the members of a species die out, the species becomes extinct. Once a species is extinct, it can never come back to life.

Adaptation and survival are closely linked. Organisms must adapt to their environment in order to survive. If a species is living in an ecosystem and the conditions of the ecosystem change, the species must adapt or face extinction.

For example, suppose a plant species is adapted to living in a desert ecosystem. If the ecosystem changes and becomes much cooler, this plant species will have to adapt or it will likely die out.

The wooly mammoth, shown in the drawing below, is an example of a species that has gone extinct. These animals died out about 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.

This image is courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service.

As their environment grew warmer and they faced hunting from humans, wooly mammoths were unable to adapt and died out.