Research on Plant or Animal Adaptations
Homework
Directions: In this activity, you will investigate an animal or plant of your choice. The goal of this
activity is to understand how organisms adapt to their environment over time to survive. Answer the
following questions about your organism on the back of this paper.
1) Describe the organism’s physical traits (what it looks like aka phenotype) and behaviors in full
detail.
2) Describe where the organism lives (be specific…what countries and what biomes/habitats).
3) Look at these traits on your organism (some won’t apply):
-height
-food it eats
-weight
-ear length
-length
-teeth size
-eye color
- fur color
After evaluating all of these traits, discuss why you think the organisms has each of these traits. Go
through each trait and figure out why the trait would benefit the organism? Ultimately, why does the
adaptation help them survive?
4) Lastly, identify a trait that you think would help this organism (a trait it does not have). Identify the
trait and describe how it would help the plant or animal survive.
Analysis Section of Homework (Use complete sentences):
Name of the organism you are researching: _____________________________________
1) Describe the organism’s physical traits (its phenotype) and behaviors.
2) Describe where the organism lives (be specific…what countries and what biomes/habitats).
3) Complete the table about the traits of your organism:
Plant/Animal Trait
Describe the trait
How does this trait help the plant/animal
survive?
Height
Weight
Teeth Size
Fur color
Food eaten
Eye color
Body structure
4) Lastly, identify a trait that you think would help this organism (a trait it doesn’t have). Describe how
the trait would help the plant or animal survive.