Adaptations 10/21/16

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Curious_Raccoon.jpg

The one main goal of all living organisms is to survive long enough to reproduce. Plants need:

• Sunlight
• Food
• Water
• Air                           

Animals need:

• Food
• Water
• Shelter
• Air

For both animals and plants to survive long enough to reproduce, they change to fit their environment. These changes are called Adaptations. Adaptations are characteristics of life. They just happen. I cannot decide today I am going to grow gills and fins and live with the fish. And too bad for me if suddenly I grow them when I don’t want them. I must live with them. Adaptations are inherited characteristics that help organisms survive long enough to reproduce.

Structural Adaptations

Body parts or coloring that helps organisms survive.      

Camouflage

Blending in with your environment.

Examples: owl, tiger, frog, tiger, snake, crocodile.    

Mimicry

To copy the look of something else.

Examples: Monarch butterflies are poisonous. Viceroy butterflies aren’t. But viceroys look exactly like monarch. So they are safe for life.

Bent hind legs

Helps prey and predators run fast to get away or get prey.

Teeth:

Flat: helps herbivores chew and grind plants. Sharp: Helps carnivores tear meat apart.

Eyes: prey has eyes on the sides of their head so that they can be on the watch. Predators have eyes in front. They focus in on prey. Guess what? We're predators.

Behavioral Adaptations:

Instincts. The way an animal reacts in response to the environment.

Migration is when birds go south in the winter.

Hibernation is when animals go to sleep in the winter to live.

Dormancy is basically plant hibernation.

Plants have feelings. They protect themselves. They use thorns, bad taste, poison, spikes, and colovation. But next time you need protection, don’t go to a rose bush. You’ll get poked. And, plants don’t care about you. They won’t physically try to protect you. Plants behave too. They behave in phototropism. Over time, a plant will move to light if needed. And plants use Gravitropism, too. So don’t get dissapointed if you plant your cucumber upside down. It’ll go right side up; it knows.