chapter 3 adaptation in animals compendium
TRANSCRIPT
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
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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: