Ch. 7: Adaptations
Vocabulary:
adaptation, camouflage, migrate,
hibernate
Body Parts That Are Adaptations
• Adaptations are features on a
plant or animal that helps them to
survive.
• Adaptations can be body parts.
• Poison Dart Frogs are brightly
colored to warn predators that
they are poisonous.
• Wolves have strong chest muscles
that let them run for hours to
chase down prey.
• Zebra have stripes that let them
hide among other zebras.
• Squirrels have bushy tails that
allow them to balance in trees.
Bodies Adapting to Ecosystems
• Living in different places
causes animals to adapt in
different ways.
• Tropical Rainforest animals
are usually small and able to
live in trees.
• They are also well adapted
to living in an area that gets
lots of rain.
• Because of the amount of
rain, tropical rainforest
plants are usually tall and
green for most to all of the
year.
Bodies Adapting to Ecosystems
• Most animals that live in
subtropical savannas have
adapted camouflage,
because there are few trees
to hide in.
• Camouflage allows the
animals to blend in with
their environments.
• Plants on the savanna are
short and thin, they have
adapted to live on very little
water, since it rains so
infrequently.
Bodies Adapting to Ecosystems
• Animals and plants in the
desert ecosystem have
adapted to need less water
than even the savanna plants
and animals.
• Most plants in the deserts
have adapted ways to store
water during the long
months without rain.
• Some animals have adapted
big ears to release body heat
into the atmosphere so they
do not become overheated.
Bodies Adapting to Ecosystems
• Plants have adapted to the
underwater ecosystem by
loosing the structures in their
cells that make them rigid, so
that they will not break in a
current.
• Kelp, a type of seaweed, has
adapted to life underwater by
developing a root system
called a hold fast that grips
rocks like fingers to keep it
from floating away.
• Underwater animals have
adapted gills, so that they can
remove oxygen from water;
and flippers or fins so that they
can swim more easily.
Bodies Adapting to Ecosystems
• Because of the amount of
wind, plants in the temperate
grasslands have adapted to be
short and flexible.
• Animals have adapted to either
feed on the grasses that grow
there or to feed on the animals
that eat the grasses.
• For the colder weather in the
winter in temperate areas,
animals have adapted shaggy
fur coats that they can shed
when temperatures get warmer.
Bodies Adapting to Ecosystems
• Temperate and coniferous
forest adaptations are
similar to temperate
grassland adaptations.
• The exception, is that
because of the lack of wind:
plants have adapted to grow
taller and animals have
adapted to live in and
around the trees.
Bodies Adapting to Ecosystems
• Animals and plants that live
in the polar regions of our
planet have developed many
adaptations to stay alive.
• Plants are very small and
grow quickly during brief
summer in polar areas.
• Animals have adapted thick
coats that never shed and
thick layers of fat, or
blubber, to keep them warm.
Adaptations That Are Behaviors
• Not all adaptations are the ways that animals
and plants bodies are shaped.
• Sometimes animals can the way they act in the
areas they live.
• These are called behavioral adaptations
Behavioral Adaptations
• Most behavioral adaptations
occur because of winter.
• For example, when
temperatures get cold
enough, birds and other
animals migrate from place
to place.
• Other animals hibernate
during the winter, so they
will not use as much energy
when the is very little food.
Migrating Birds
Hibernating Dormouse
Questions about Chapter 7
1. What are two animal adaptations for life in area
where it gets cold?
2. Cheetahs have black spots on their yellow coats.
This pattern helps them blend into tall grass. Name
the adaptation that this is an example of.
3. Name two adaptations that plants have made to live
in underwater environments.
4. Describe what an adaption is.
5. Why have birds adapted different shaped beaks?