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Adaptations of Living ThingsAdaptations of Living Things

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In what ways need an organism be In what ways need an organism be adapted?adapted?

• Defence

• Food and other essentials

• Respond to change

• Reproduce

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Life today is a combination of 2 components:Life today is a combination of 2 components:

• The Evolutionary Process • Immediate interactions with the environment * An example of one is when the Grizzly bear

changed into the Polar bear. – Their fur didn’t blend in with the arctic snow so it

couldn’t hunt. – It’s fur was too thin keep it warm.– To change, an animal has to survive long enough to

reproduce. The babies will probably be changed so they can live and survive there.

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Advantages of Sexual ReproductionAdvantages of Sexual Reproduction

• New individuals will have a variety of chromosomes

• They are also able to adapt to a changing environment

• Their characteristics are combined from both parents

• Variations allows individuals to move into new environments

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A Word on animals…A Word on animals…

• All animals have adaptations that fit their environments. An adaptation is a part of an animal's body or way that an animal behaves that helps it survive.

• An adaptation is when an animal mutates to survive.

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AdaptationsAdaptations

• Over the past millions of years organisms have developed characteristics to help them to survive in their environment.

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AdaptationsAdaptations

• Organisms have adaptations that help them survive and thrive. Some adaptations are structural

• Other adaptations are behavioral Adaptations are the result of evolution

• Reproductive adaptations

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AdaptationsAdaptations

• The more adaptations an organism has the better it can survive in it's environment.

• Adaptations usually occur because a gene mutates or changes by accident! Some mutations can help an animal or plant survive better than others in the species without the mutation. 

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AdaptationsAdaptations• Over time, animals that are better adapted

to their environment survive and breed. Animals that are not well adapted to an environment may not survive. 

• The characteristics that help a species survive in an environment are passed on to future generations and those characteristics that don't help the species survive slowly disappear.

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• Imagine one day a  bird is born with a beak that is longer than the beak of other birds. The longer beak helps the bird catch more food. Because of this, it is healthier, lives longer and breeds more. The gene for a longer beak is passed on to its offspring. 

AdaptationsAdaptations

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AdaptationsAdaptations

•  An example of this in the cane toad, which is an introduced species to Queensland.

• It has several adaptations that make it suitable to it's new environment: it lays large numbers of eggs in almost any body of water every few weeks.

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AdaptationsAdaptations• In England the Peppered Moth lives on the trunks of

trees. Most moths are brown, this helps hide from birds that like to eat them.

• If black peppered moths are born, they do not tend to survive long as they are easily seen by the birds and are eaten.

• In some areas in Britain the trees get blackened by soot from industry. On these trees the black moths are harder to see and the brown moths become easy targets for birds.

* This is an example of how natural selection changes the characteristics of the same organism depending on where it is.

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IguanasIguanas

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AdaptationsAdaptations• Porcupines mate in late

summer and early fall. Porcupines are very vocal during mating season. Males often fight over females. They perform an elaborate dance and spray urine over the heads of the female.

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AdaptationsAdaptations

An opossum mother may have as many as 25 babies, but she usually will have between seven to eight. The reason opossums have so many babies to insure that some of them survive. Like most marsupials, opossums are very small when they are born – about the size of a navy bean.

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AdaptationsAdaptations

• A streamlined body, paddle-like feet, insulating blubber, and watertight feathers all add to their efficiency and comfort underwater. They also have a remarkable deep-diving ability.

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Great White sharkGreat White shark

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AntsAnts