Adaptations
Introduction
• Watch this video for an introduction to
adaptations
• Animals have structural/physical and behavioral
adaptations
– Structural – body parts
– Behavioral – what the animal does
• “Animals depend on their physical features to
help them obtain food, keep safe, build homes,
withstand weather, and attract mates.”
Examples of Structural Adaptations
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Shape of bird’s beak
Number and arrangement of fingers or toes
Color of fur
Thickness of fur
Shape of nose, ears, or feet
Camels
• Read about the camel’s adaptations
• Learn:
– About the purpose of a camel’s eyelashes
– What’s special about the camel’s nose
– How the camel has adapted for food, water, and
environment
Lions
• Read about the lion
• How has the lion adapted for protection,
feeding, and their environment?
Penguins
• Read about the Penguin
• How does the penguin move and keep warm?
Frogs
• Read about frogs
• How has a frog adapted to get and eat his
food?
Saguaro Cactus
• Read about the Saguaro Cactus
• How has it adapted to survive in it’s
environment?
Camouflage
What is Camouflage?
• adaptation “increases an animal’s chances of
survival”
• camouflage – “an animal’s ability to hide itself
from predator and prey”
• camouflage includes blending in and
disguising
Concealing Animal Colors
• Helps animals find food and avoid being
attacked or eaten
• An “animal’s environment is often the most
important factor in what the camouflage looks
like”
• Camouflage matches the background of the
environment.
Blending into the Background
Tartan hawkfish – Papua New Guinea
Examples of Blending In
• “Brownish ‘earth tone’ colors” to blend in with
trees and soil
– Deer, squirrels, wild turkey
• “Grayish-blue coloring” to blend in with
underwater color
– Sharks, dolphins, stingrays
Blending In
Cryptic frog
Animals Who Can Change Their Color
• Biochromes – animals produce colors
chemically – absorbing some light and
reflecting others
• Microscopic Physical Structures – refract and
scatter light
– Polar bears “have black skin but appear white
because they have translucent hairs”
• Some Animals can do both
Advantages of Camouflage
• Animals with better camouflage are more
likely to survive
• Animals that survive will reproduce and pass
their coloring on to their offspring
• Natural selection – how the colors develop
slowly over generations based on the colors of
the animals that have survived
• Watch this video clip for a camouflage
overview
Color and Texture
• Texture of an animal’s fur, scales, feathers, or
exoskeleton can help animal blend in
• Squirrels – rough fur looks like tree bark
• Insects – smooth exoskeleton looks like leaves
The feathers on the
snowy owl look fluffy like
the snow.
Adaptive Camouflage
• Animals who can change color to match their
surroundings
• Changing seasons changes the surroundings
– Spring and summer – green and brown
– Winter and fall – brown or white
• Being the same color year-round can be
dangerous
Adaptive Camouflage
• Changes in the environment can cause the
animal to change color for the season like a
tree’s leave change color
• Animals can also change their color by
contracting or relaxing muscles
– Cuttlefish – Watch this video to hear an
explanation of the chromataphors and reflective
cells and this video to see them change!
– Chameleons
Chamaeleo pardalis
Madagascar
Animal Disguises
• Spots, stripes, patches, etc.
• Patterns may look similar to the environment
– Vertical stripes – grass
• Disruption coloration
– An outline that doesn’t match the shape of the animal
so the predator doesn’t know exactly where the
animal is
– Zebras – stripes make them look like one big animal,
so the predator can’t target one
– Fish swimming in schools look like one large fish
– Walking Stick looks like a stick
Walking
Stick
Can you see the katydid?
Mimicry
• Other animals use mimicry also
• Mimicry is when an animal looks like
something else
• Some animals look like other animals
• Some animals have colors that look like
poisonous animals
Can you see the gecko?
Which one is the insect?
This hawk moth
caterpillar looks like
a much more
dangerous animal.
Which two are bumblebees with stingers and which two are
harmless Robber flies? Not only do Robber flies look like
bumblebees, but they also make a sound similar to them!
This South African
speckled emperor
moth has spots that
look like a larger
animal’s eyes.
Looking like the
poisonous Coral
Snake helps
protect the
Scarlet King
Snake.
Resources
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http://www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/all-about-animals/animalcamouflage.htm
http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/ecology-and-the-environment/animal-camouflagepictures.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x-8v1mxpR0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__XA6B41SQQ
http://thenaturalhistorian.com/2012/03/19/good-creation-mimicry-design-and-thecreationists-dilemma/
http://www.alleghany.k12.va.us/animal%20adaptation%20webpage/animal_mimicry.ht
m
http://malcolmpollack.com/2006/08/08/designer-genes/
http://oakdome.com/k5/lesson-plans/powerpoint/animal-camouflage-pictures-andinformation.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds5qIn2TISg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEDxThDINgQ&feature=related
Resources
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http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep1.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/adaptation.htm
http://www.casarioblanco.com/poison-dart-frog.html
http://fohn.net/camel-pictures-facts/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion