Adaptations

Introduction

• Watch this video for an introduction to adaptations

• Animals have structural/physical and behavioral adaptations– Structural – body parts– Behavioral – what the animal does

• “Animals depend on their physical features to help them obtain food, keep safe, build homes, withstand weather, and attract mates.”

Examples of Structural Adaptations

• Shape of bird’s beak• Number and arrangement of fingers or toes• Color of fur• Thickness of fur• Shape of nose, ears, or feet

Camels

• Read about the camel’s adaptations• Learn:– About the purpose of a camel’s eyelashes– What’s special about the camel’s nose– How the camel has adapted for food, water, and

environment

Lions

• Read about the lion• How has the lion adapted for protection,

feeding, and their environment?

Penguins

• Read about the Penguin• How does the penguin move and keep warm?

Frogs

• Read about frogs• How has a frog adapted to get and eat his

food?

Saguaro Cactus

• Read about the Saguaro Cactus• How has it adapted to survive in it’s

environment?

Camouflage

What is Camouflage?

• adaptation “increases an animal’s chances of survival”

• camouflage – “an animal’s ability to hide itself from predator and prey”

• camouflage includes blending in and disguising

Concealing Animal Colors

• Helps animals find food and avoid being attacked or eaten

• An “animal’s environment is often the most important factor in what the camouflage looks like”

• Camouflage matches the background of the environment.

Blending into the Background

Tartan hawkfish – Papua New Guinea

Examples of Blending In

• “Brownish ‘earth tone’ colors” to blend in with trees and soil– Deer, squirrels, wild turkey

• “Grayish-blue coloring” to blend in with underwater color– Sharks, dolphins, stingrays

Blending In

Cryptic frog

Animals Who Can Change Their Color

• Biochromes – animals produce colors chemically – absorbing some light and reflecting others

• Microscopic Physical Structures – refract and scatter light– Polar bears “have black skin but appear white

because they have translucent hairs”• Some Animals can do both

Advantages of Camouflage

• Animals with better camouflage are more likely to survive

• Animals that survive will reproduce and pass their coloring on to their offspring

• Natural selection – how the colors develop slowly over generations based on the colors of the animals that have survived

• Watch this video clip for a camouflage overview

Color and Texture

• Texture of an animal’s fur, scales, feathers, or exoskeleton can help animal blend in

• Squirrels – rough fur looks like tree bark• Insects – smooth exoskeleton looks like leaves

The feathers on the snowy owl look fluffy like the snow.

Adaptive Camouflage

• Animals who can change color to match their surroundings

• Changing seasons changes the surroundings– Spring and summer – green and brown– Winter and fall – brown or white

• Being the same color year-round can be dangerous

Adaptive Camouflage

• Changes in the environment can cause the animal to change color for the season like a tree’s leave change color

• Animals can also change their color by contracting or relaxing muscles– Cuttlefish – Watch this video to hear an

explanation of the chromataphors and reflective cells and this video to see them change!

– Chameleons

Chamaeleo pardalisMadagascar

Animal Disguises

• Spots, stripes, patches, etc.• Patterns may look similar to the environment– Vertical stripes – grass

• Disruption coloration– An outline that doesn’t match the shape of the animal so

the predator doesn’t know exactly where the animal is– Zebras – stripes make them look like one big animal, so

the predator can’t target one– Fish swimming in schools look like one large fish– Walking Stick looks like a stick

Walking Stick

Can you see the katydid?

Mimicry

• Other animals use mimicry also• Mimicry is when an animal looks like

something else• Some animals look like other animals• Some animals have colors that look like

poisonous animals

Can you see the gecko?

Which one is the insect?

This hawk moth caterpillar looks like a much more dangerous animal.

Which two are bumblebees with stingers and which two are harmless Robber flies? Not only do Robber flies look like bumblebees, but they also make a sound similar to them!

This South African speckled emperor moth has spots that look like a larger animal’s eyes.

Looking like the poisonous Coral Snake helps protect the Scarlet King Snake.

Resources• http://www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/all-about-animals/animal-

camouflage.htm• http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/ecology-and-the-environment/animal-camouflage-

pictures.htm• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x-8v1mxpR0• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__XA6B41SQQ• http://thenaturalhistorian.com/2012/03/19/good-creation-mimicry-design-and-the-cre

ationists-dilemma/• http://www.alleghany.k12.va.us/animal%20adaptation%20webpage/animal_mimicry.ht

m• http://malcolmpollack.com/2006/08/08/designer-genes/• http://oakdome.com/k5/lesson-plans/powerpoint/animal-camouflage-pictures-and-inf

ormation.php• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds5qIn2TISg• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEDxThDINgQ&feature=related

Resources• http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep1.htm• http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/adaptation.htm• http://www.casarioblanco.com/poison-dart-frog.html• http://fohn.net/camel-pictures-facts/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion