Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?

Adaptations A characteristic that helps a living thing survive is called an adaptation.

Adaptations Animals that survive better because of a new characteristic are more likely to reproduce and pass that characteristic on to their young. The adaptation becomes more common in the population. In this way, populations of plants and animals become adapted to their habitats.

Adaptations If animals have similar habitats, they share similar adaptations.

Adaptations

Form and Function Physical adaptations are differences in the bodies of organisms. Organisms have physical adaptations that help them survive in different environments.

Form and Function When an organism has a characteristic that helps it survive in a way that others cannot, the organism with the adaptation has an advantage.

Form and Function

Eat or Be Eaten Some physical adaptations protect living things from being eaten. Physical adaptations that help to keep an animal hidden are called camouflage. For instance, green lizards in green grass are camouflaged. Animals that hunt have physical adaptations that help them catch food.

Eat or Be Eaten Animals that hunt have physical adaptations that help them catch food.

Eat or Be Eaten Plants have adaptations that help spread their seeds. Some seeds can be carried by the wind. Other seeds are inside berries. Once eaten, the seeds are carried to a new location.

Eat or Be Eaten

Catching Flies

On Your Best Behavior The way living things act is called behavior. Some behaviors are adaptations that help animals survive. Behaviors that animals know how to do without being taught are called instincts.

On Your Best Behavior

On Your Best Behavior 1. Migration occurs when animals move to different locations at certain times of the year to find food, reproduce, or escape cold weather.

On Your Best Behavior 2. Hibernation is a long period of inactivity that is like sleeping. The body processes of hibernating animals slow down, and the animals stay inactive for months.

On Your Best Behavior

On Your Best Behavior 3. The way that animals act toward other animals of the same type is called social behavior.

The Circle of Life Living things go through stages of growth and development called a life cycle. A living thing s life cycle is related to its habitat. Because of this, differences in life cycles are a type of adaptation.

The Circle of Life

Living Things Change Every organism is slightly different from every other organism. For example, corn snakes come in many colors and patterns. Their survival can depend upon their color and whether their predators can see them. If the predator cannot see the snake, they are more likely to survive and produce more offspring with the same coloring.

Living Things Change Sometimes living things change because their environment changes. For example, bacteria have changed with the discovery of antibiotics that kill them. The first antibiotic, penicillin, saved lives. Some bacteria resist penicillin, however, and survive and multiply. Researchers must find new antibiotics to kill the resistant bacteria.

Living Things Change