Chapter 3 Adaptation in animals Compendium

Chapter 3 Adaptation in animals

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Compendium

A. Introduction

(i) Animals

(ii) Adaptations

B. Animal Adaptations

(i) Adaptations for Cold Weather

(ii) Adaptations for Desert

(iii) Adaptations for Tropical Rainforests

C. Bird’s-eye view

D. Solved examples

E. Practice Yourself

F. Solutions

Chapter 3 Adaptation in animal

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A. Introduction All animals live in habitats.

Habitats provide all the

necessary things for survival,

like food and shelter, which

are essential for animals to

survive, but there is more to

survival than habitat. Animals

are dependent on their

physical features to help them obtain food, keep safe, build homes, withstand

weather, and attract mates. These physical features are called physical

adaptations. Here are some examples:

Camouflage

Camouflage can be thought of as a shape or

colour in an animal's body covering that helps

the animal blend into its environment. Most

species have developed camouflage that

helps them find food and avoid predators. In

contrast, predators use their camouflage to

hide when stalking prey. Camouflage varies

from species to species, but an animal's

environment often directs the colour and

shape. Camouflage patterns on different

species may blend or match into the habitat

surroundings. These patterns disguise animals or

mimic a distasteful or harmful animal. A top-rated camouflage expert is a

butterfly. There are approximately 165,000 species; they can be found on every

continent but not on Antarctica as the temperature is very high. With an

increased number of species, butterflies show a wide variety of sizes and

colours. Butterflies match their surroundings to hide from predators, have big

spots that look similar to a big animal's eyes or be brightly coloured to warn

others that they are poisonous.


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Adaptations and Habitats

Every animal requires someplace to live. This place is called a habitat. Like

people, animals have requirements for their homes. A habitat for any animal

must provide:

- shelter from weather and predators

- food and water for nourishment

- place to obtain food, water, and breed.

What does it mean to thrive? It means living and surviving to see the next day

and growing to adulthood and reproducing. It's crucial for one animal to

thrive, but a species must thrive. That requires a suitable habitat so animals

can reproduce and have babies.

An adaptation can be a body covering, body part, or behaviour that helps

animals survive in their habitat. For the Zebra, her black and white stripes help

her blend in with her habitat and hide from predators. This is called

camouflage. She also has unique body parts, for example, her grinding teeth.

These teeth help her chew her food so she can swallow it. Without teeth,

Zebra would have a hard time eating enough food to survive. Zebras also have

excellent hearing, and their eyesight at night is as good as an owl's eyesight.

Zebras can run as fast as 35 miles per hour and have a powerful kick. Many

zebras will stand together in a group—called a herd or a dazzle—to make it

difficult for predators to hunt one individual zebra. All of these adaptations

help zebras survive in their habitat. What about those predators? Predators

use their adaptations, such as the sharp claws and teeth of a lion, to help find

and catch their prey. Like zebras, lions also have camouflaged colouring and

blend in with their surroundings. But in the lion's case, it's to hide in the grass

to stalk their dinner.


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Animals come in all sizes and shapes, live in all types of habitats, and eat

various foods. The unique characteristics animals have that help them survive

and thrive in their habitats are called adaptations. Some adaptations are

behavioural; these are things the animals do. Other adaptations are physical

characteristics, such as the webbed feet of a duck. Migration is an excellent

example of this.

Find an animal which is adapted for:

Digging in the sand_________________

Swinging through trees__________________

Picking up seeds and catching insects from the ground ____________________

Some different adaptations

Let’s Experiment


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Digging in the sand _________________________

Swimming through the water ______________________________________

Walking deep through sand ________________________________

Running away from predators ___________________________________

Leaping up and grabbing its prey from the air _____________________

Stalking and ambushing prey _____________________________

Eating branches, bark and leaves__________________________________

Finding and eating decomposing animals _____________________

Killing prey with venom ____________________________

Surviving desert droughts __________________________________

Catching prey at night ______________________________________

B. Adaptation according to surroundings

Adaptations of animals

The climate of a place affects the plants, animals, and people living there. The

most difficult environments are extreme heat and extreme cold. Animals can

survive in almost all climates because they have many ways of adapting to

extreme temperatures.

Adaptations to cold climates

It is freezing in the polar regions. In winters, the temperature can drastically

go down to -37 °C. Animals such as seals, polar bears, etc., can live under such

extreme cold as they are adapted to it.

There are six months of day and six months of the night in poles, and

the sun remains barely above the horizon for six months day. That is

why it is so cold at the poles.

Mental floss!


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Polar bears: The bodies of polar bears and several

other animals living in icy conditions are covered

with dense fur that helps to traps air (which is an

insulator of heat) to keep them warm.

Polar bears have two thick layers of dense fur

and a layer of fat under the skin. These provide

excellent insulation. So much so that the polar bear has to move slowly;

otherwise, the heat generated during physical activity can make it overheated.

When it becomes overheated due to physical activity, the polar bear goes

swimming in the water to cool off. Its wide and large paws help to swim. It can

close its nostrils and can stay underwater

for long durations. A polar bear has

white fur, which camouflages it with the

white snow and makes it difficult to be

seen. It protects the polar bear against

predators and also helps it to catch prey.

The polar bear body is rounded and

small ears to keep the body surface area to a minimum. It reduces the loss of

heat from the body of a polar bear drastically. The polar bear has big feet to

spread its body's weight on snow, which prevents it from sinking into snow

and makes it walk on the snow easily. It has long, curved and sharp claws,

which help it walk and run-on slippery ice.

The polar bear is a good swimmer; while swimming, it can catch its prey easily.

They have a strong sense of smell. It helps them in locating and catching their

prey for food.

Penguins

Penguins are found in polar regions. They are the

sea birds that cannot fly. Penguins hunt for fish for

food to survive. They have similar adaptations.

The white and black colour of their body helps them

to hide in the snow. Their feathers, thick fat under

the skin, provides insulation against cold.


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They huddle together when it is very cold. This keeps them warm. Penguins

are also good swimmers. They have streamlined bodies and webbed feet that

make it easy to swim.

Some other animals which live in polar regions are musk oxen, reindeers, arctic

foxes, seals, whales, etc.

Birds

Birds use their feathers to protect themselves from the cold. However, this

protection is not enough for the extreme winter in the polar regions. To escape

the cold, they migrate to warmer regions during winters.

Migration of birds is an adaptation to escape the harsh and cold climatic

conditions of their normal habitat in winters to survive.

Seals

Seals have thick depositions of fat, called blubber, that

protect them from the cold.

A few other ways in which animals reduce heat loss are

as follows:

Siberian crane comes to Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Sultanpur in Haryana

bird sanctuaries in India and goes back to polar regions after winter is over.

Some migratory birds travel as much as 15000km to escape the extreme

weather conditions at home. They fly high where the wind flow is helpful,

and the cold conditions allow them to disperse the heat generated by their

flight muscles. It seems that these birds have a built-in sense of directions

and know in which direction to travel. Some birds use landmarks to guide

them.

Did you know?


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Reptiles keep their body warm by absorbing sun rays during the day. At night

they shelter themselves to keep warm.

Body parts such as ears, tails, and legs lose heat. So, the animals living in

extremely cold climates have small ears and tails.

Another way of reducing heat loss is by reducing body activity.

D. Adaptations to Hot Climates – Desert

Animals living in hot climates such as snakes and

desert foxes spend their day hiding in shady places

such as caves. They come out at night to look for food.

They are called nocturnal animals.

They have long legs and tails and huge ears. The ears

have blood vessels near the ear surface as the air blows

across the ears; it cools the blood, which in turn cools the body like a fennec

fox. The animals sweat, pants, and lick to keep themselves cool. The sweat or

saliva evaporates from their bodies to keep them cool. But these methods are

not good if the water is scarce, for example, in the desert, because it also

promotes water loss.

Camel has a hump where fat is stored.

This provides it with food in times of food shortage. It

can drink a very large quantity of water at a time. This

water is stored in its stomach temporarily.

It sweats very little-this helps it to conserve water. It

excretes little water in the form of urine as an excretory

product. Its feet have large soles and are suitable for

walking on soft sand.

E. Adaptation to hot and wet climates - Tropical

rainforests The tropical regions are near the equator. They have a hot and wet climate.

Since this kind of climate supports plant growth, the tropical regions are full

of dense rainforests. Even during the coldest month, the temperature is

generally higher than about 15oC. During summers, the temperature may


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cross 40oC. Day and nights are equal in length throughout the year. These

regions get plenty of rainfall. The tropical rainforest is found in the Western

Ghats and Assam in India, Southeast Asia, Central America, and Central

Africa.

The rainforest supports a large variety of animals. This is because of the warm

climate, constant water supply, and availability of a wide variety of food. The

major type of animal living in the tropical rainforests is Lions, Tigers, Leopards,

Elephants, Monkeys, Apes, Lion-tailed macaque, Gorillas, Birds, Snakes,

Lizards, Frogs, and Insects, etc. Many animals in rainforests are adapted to

living on trees. Trees shelter them, hiding places from predators, and also

supply them with food.

Monkeys use their hands and feet and also their tails

to swing from branch to branch. They are expert

climbers. They can easily hold on to the branches.

Monkeys have long and strong gripping tails, which

they use for grasping branches of trees. They use their

long and strong tail like an extra hand to hold on to the

trees' branches. Monkeys have good eyesight. It

helps them in leaping between the branches to

escape from their predators. Monkey eats fruits,

seeds, leaves, roots, and insects as food.

The lion-tailed macaque, also known as beard

ape, is an arboreal animal as it spends most of its

time high up in trees. It hardly comes down as it

gets all food on trees. It mainly feeds on fruits, as

well as other plant parts. The lion tailed-macaque

is a good climber. Like monkeys, they have perfect

eyesight, which helps them in leaping between

the branches. This helps them in moving from one

tree to another in search of food. Some animals eat

food that is eaten by other animals—for example, the toucan.


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Its long, large bill helps to reach fruits or branches that cannot bear its

weight and other animals' weights. Toucan is a colourful bird with a strange-

looking beak. It has brightly coloured feathers. It spends most of the time in

the holes of big trees. The feet of a toucan is adapted for grasping the branches

of trees firmly. Toucan can change the colour of its feathers to blend with the

surroundings.

Several animals have a skin colour that camouflages them with the

background example; the jaguar has a spotted skin that merges well with the

rainforest floor, making it difficult to be seen. This helps it in hunting.

Elephants

Elephants are plant eaters. It is a huge

animal of the Indian tropical

rainforest. The elephants are well

adapted to living in the tropical

rainforest. It has a strong sense of

smell as it uses its trunk as a nose.

Tusk is big and long pointed teeth that come out

from the closed mouth of the elephant. It helps

them in tearing off the bark of trees which it eats

as food.

It uses its trunk to pull down the fruits from the trees. It is an elongated nose.

It is also used for breathing. It uses its tusks or teeth to tear the bark of trees,

which it eats.

It uses its ears to hear feeble sounds and cool itself in the tropical rainforest's

hot and humid climate.

An elephant has two tusks and four teeth. The four teeth are molars

which helps in chewing and grinding of food.

Did you know?


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An elephant is very heavy. The elephant is adapted to support its great weight

and prevent it from sinking into soft ground.

Their feet are large and round.

Red-eyed frog has developed sticky pads on

its feet to help it climb trees on which it lives.

The sticky pads on feet allow the red-eyed

frog to attach itself to the trees' branches and

leaves.

The big and bulging bright eyes of this red-eyed frog are an adaptation for

protection. Suppose a predator wakes up the sleeping red-eyed frog during

the daytime; its big and bright eyes 'pop open' suddenly. The sudden opening

of big bright-red eyes frightens the predator at that moment, and the frog

gets time to jump to a safe place. The green colour of the red-eyed frog helps

it's to hide within the green leaves of the tree unnoticed by its prey. The red-

eyed frog has excellent eyesight. The red-eyed frog is a carnivore and eats any

type of insect as food.

1. In which part of the earth can you expect to find animals with

small ears, tails, and legs – in a cold place or a warm place?

2. An elephant lives in a rainforest. How is the trunk of an elephant

useful in the rainforest?

Ans-1 Cold place

Ans-2 It helps to pull down the fruits from trees.

Big cats

The wild animals such as lions and tigers etc. are called big cats. They are

carnivores that eat only the meat of other animals. They can live and survive in

tropical rainforests. The big cats have a highly developed sense of smell which

helps them to locate their prey. They also have sensitive hearing, which helps

them to finds their prey. The yellow-brown colour of a lion and the yellow-

Try and learn


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brown colour with black stripes of tiger helps them hide in the forest. The eyes

of big cats are situated in front of their heads, enabling them to have a correct

idea of their prey's location. This helps in

catching the prey. They also have good

eyesight for hunting at night. They can run

very fast. It helps them in catching their prey.

The big cats have long, strong and sharp

claws in their front legs to catch their prey.


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1. Native place where animals live is called

a) Habitat

b) Forest

c) Home

d) None of these

Sol: Habitat


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2. Changes and development of body, habit in animals which help

to survive them

a) Adaptation

b) Training

c) Exercise

d) Adjustment

Sol: Adaptation

3. Which animal live on land?

a) Terrestrial

b) Aquatic

c) Amphibian

d) Aerial

Sol: Terrestrial

4. Which animals live on trees?

a) Arboreal

b) Amphibian

c) Aerial

d) Aquatic

Sol: Arboreal

5. Animals like snake have ____ which help them to crawl.

a) Tail

b) Legs

c) Scales

d) All of these

Sol: Tail

6. Animals living in cold regions have ____ on their bodies to

protect them from cold.


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a) Fur

b) Jacket

c) Both

d) None of these

Sol: fur

7. Camel is called _____ of the dessert.

a) Ship

b) None of these

c) Train

d) Boat

Sol: Ship

8. Long sleep in winter month to protect from cold is called

a) Hibernation

b) Both

c) None of theses

d) Migration

Sol: Hibernation

9. Many aquatic animals breathe in water through

a) Both

b) None of these

c) Lungs

d) Gills

Sol: Both

10. Frog can breathe through their

a) Skin

b) All of these

c) Ears


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d) Eyes

Sol: Skin

11. _____ of monkeys help them to balance their bodies

a) Tails

b) Ears

c) None of these

d) Legs

Sol: Tails

12. ______ have hollow bones to reduce their body weight

a) Birds

b) All of these

c) Fish

d) Lizard

Sol: Birds

13. _____ is a mammal but can fly.

a) Bat

b) All of these

c) Lion

d) Bird

Sol: Bat

14. Herbivores are animals that eat

a) Plants

b) Animals

c) Both

d) None of these

Sol: Plants


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15. Human and cockroaches are

a) Omnivores

b) All of these

c) Carnivores

d) Herbivores

Sol: Omnivores

16. ______ are animals that eat the flesh of their animals

a) Carnivores

b) Omnivores

c) All of these

d) Herbivores

Sol: Carnivores

17. Mosquito and Leech are ____ sucking animals

a) Blood

b) Juice

c) None of these

d) Water

Sol: Blood

18. Hookworm and roundworm live our body

a) Both

b) None of these

c) Outside

d) Inside

Sol : Both

19. Puffer fish protects itself by puffing up like a

a) Balloon

b) Cack


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c) Hammar

d) None of these

Sol: Balloon

20. Polar bear is a _____ animals

a) None of these

b) Both

c) Pet

d) Camouflage

Sol: None of these

21. A _____ can change its colour to match its surroundings

a) Chameleon

b) Butterfly

c) None of these

d) Porcupine

Sol: Chameleon

22. Elephant grass found in Africa is ____ meters

a) 4.5

b) 10

c) 2

d) 1

Sol: 4.5

23. _____ has hard shelf that protect their bodies

a) Turtles

b) All of these

c) Stick insects

d) Zebra


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Sol: Turtles

24. Going to for off places to escape the cold winter, and returning

in summers.

a) Migration

b) Hibernation

c) Both

d) None of these

Sol: Migration

Find the name of animals and insects in the following puzzle.


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Answer:

Chapter 3 Adaptation in animals Compendium

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