Have you ever wondered how animals are able to survive in the

wild?

Animals have certain adaptations that help

them to survive.

Think about the way you dress in the winter.

You don’t wear your shorts and bathing suit when it’s snowing outside!

You wear warm clothes, and maybe even a hat and mittens to protect

yourself from the weather.

And what if you are having a snowball fight?

You probably run away from the person throwing at you,

and maybe even try to sneak up on that person and

throw some snowballs!

The way you dress in the winter, as well as the way that you run and hide from

someone throwing snow at you are kinds of …

Adaptations.

toad

ADAPTATIONS

Anything that helps an organism survive in its environment is an adaptation. 

We can separate adaptations into two categories:

Structural

AND

Behavioral

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Structural adaptations

are body feature that allow an animal to find and consume food, defend itself,

and to reproduce its species.

Structural adaptations help an animal survive in its environment.

Hey! I’m a walking

stick. I look just like a

stick you’d find on the

ground.

© A. Weinberg

Structural Adaptation: Protective Coloration / Camouflage

• Coloration and Protective Resemblance allow an animal to blend into its environment.

  • Another word for this is

camouflage.  An organisms camouflage makes it hard for enemies to single out individuals.  

Structural Adaptation

Camouflage (use of color in a surrounding)

The chameleon can change its color to match its surroundings.

Structural Adaptations: Mimicry

MimicryMimicry allows allows one animal to one animal to look, sound, or look, sound, or act like another act like another animal to fool animal to fool predators into predators into thinking it is thinking it is poisonous or poisonous or dangerous.dangerous.

Mimicry (looking or sounding like another living

organism)

The Viceroy butterfly uses mimicry to look like the Monarch butterfly. Can you tell them apart?

Poisonous

Not poisonous

Structural Adaptation

I’m the Monarch!

I’m the Viceroy!

Chemical defenses (like venom, ink, sprays)

Structural Adaptation

Body coverings & parts (claws, beaks, feet, armor plates, skulls, teeth)

Structural Adaptations

The elephant’s trunk is a structural adaptation that helps it to clean itself, eat, drink, and to pick

things up.

Now let’s learn about

Behavioral Adaptations…

Behavioral Adaptations allow animals to respond to

life needs.

Behavioral Adaptations

• Behavior Adaptations include activities or actions that help an animal survive. 

  EX:Behavior for protection

• Opossum plays dead

• Rabbit freezes when it is seen 

Each organism has unique methods of adapting to its environment by means of

different actions.

Behavioral Adaptations are animals’ actions.

Remember that Structural Adaptations are body features.

We can divide Behavioral Adaptations into two groups:

Instinctive Learned

These behaviors happen naturally & don’t have to

be learned.

These behaviors must be taught.

Instinctive behaviors

happen naturally &

don’t need to be learned

=

Finding shelter

Methods of gathering & storing food

Defending oneself

Raising young

Hibernating

Migrating

Hibernation• This is deep sleep in which animal’s body temp drops

and body activities are slowed to conserve energy.

• EX. Bats, woodchucks, & bears.

Migration• Animals migrate for different

reasons. 

– better climate

– better food

– safe place to live

– safe place to raise young

– go back to the place they were born.

• This is a behavioral adaptation that involves an animal or group of animals moving from one region to another and then back again. 

Learned behaviors

Obtained by interacting with the environment and cannot be

passed on to the next generation

except by teaching.

=

Learned Behavior

• Capuchin monkeys always finds the heaviest rock to break the nuts they eat.

• This skill is taught to younger generations…LEARNED BEHAVIOR

In this lesson, we have learned about animal adaptations.

There are 2 ways to describe adaptations:

Structural and Behavioral

Structural adaptations are body features.

Some examples of structural adaptations are:

Camouflage

Mimicry

Body coverings & parts

Chemical defenses

Behavioral Adaptations are animals’ actions.

Behavioral Adaptations can beInstinctive or Learned.

The next time you read about an

animal in the wild, or when you see one on television, think about its adaptations….