Why Adapt?
Adapt To: Survive
● Eat/digest certain foods
● Drink/reach/conserve water
● Environment – climate, weather/season
● Reproduction
● Avoiding predators
● Finding prey
To Survive by Getting Food
Adapt to
● Eat/digest specific foods
● Go without food
● Reach preferred foods
● Catch prey
To Survive by Getting Food
● Eucalyptus
○ Poisonous
○ Very fibrous
○ Low in nutrients
● So Koalas adapted
○ Can detoxify poison
○ Eat a lot
○ Slow metabolism &
digestion
○ Sleep a LOT = don’t
spend energy
To Survive by Getting Food
Giraffes - reaching food
Early giraffes had a short neck, but as food grew taller giraffes
that could reach the food were selected for
Trees grew taller to avoid being eaten
Finding food – Fox
Sensitive hearing – hear
through 3 ft of snow
Facing north to get
better results
Adapted to jump into
snow & hit frozen
ground without getting
hurt
To Survive by Getting Food
Birds & their beaks
Evolved a large number of
way to get to food & eat
specific foods
Assignment
Fill in the worksheet with
1. Your favorite animal
2. What does it eat?
3. How has that animal adapted to eating that food? i.
e. teeth, claws, beak, feet, shape, digestive system,
camouflage, senses etc.
4. How is that animal adapted to survive when there is
little food available?