Life Science-AnimalsPart 2 of 2

Abney ElementaryMrs. Delaup

1. What is an adaptation?

• An adaptation is a body part or behavior that helps an animal meet its needs in its environment.

2.What are four examples of body part adaptations to meet

basic needs?• Four examples of body part

adaptations to meet basic needs are beaks, body coverings, camouflage, and mimicry.

3.Describe three types of beaks.

• Beaks can be: • thick and heavy to crack open seeds, • short and stubby to eat fruit • or sharp and pointed to eat insects.

4. Name three kinds of body coverings.

• There are three different kinds of body coverings: feathers, fur or hair, and scales.

5. What is the job of each body covering?

• Feathers protect birds and help them fly. • Fur or Hair keeps an animal warm. • Scales help protect fish from other animals that

live in water and reptiles from drying out.

6. What is special about a polar bear having clear hair?

• A polar bear having clear hair that allows the light to pass through is an example of how animals have special adaptations to meet the needs in their environment.

7. What is camouflage?

• Camouflage is an animal’s color or pattern that helps it blend in with its surroundings.

Example: The dark skin on an alligators back makes it blend into the swamps where it lives.

8. What is mimicry?

• Mimicry is an adaptation in which an animal looks very much like another animal.

Example: The viceroy butterfly is a mimic because it looks like a bad-tasting monarch butterfly.

9. What is an instinct?

• An instinct is a behavior that an animal BEGINS life with. This is NOT a LEARNED behavior.

10. What is migration?

• One example of an instinct is Migration. Migration is the movement of a group of one type of animal from on region to another back again.

Example: Some Canadian birds travel south during winter months to find food and a good climate and return to Canada in the spring when the weather warms up.

Example: Some animals have an instinct to migrate to places where their young cans survive. Gray whales spend the summer in areas where they can find food easily-near the North Pole.

11. What is hibernation?

• Not all animals have the instinct to migrate as winter brings colder temperatures and a lack of food.

• Some animals adapt to these changes by hibernating. Hibernation is a period when an animal goes into a long, deep “sleep.”

12. What does an animal do to prepare for hibernation?

• An animal prepares to hibernate by eating extra food and finding shelter.

13. How is hibernation possible?

• Animals need little to no food because during hibernation the animal’s body temperature drops and its breathing rate and heart rate falls.

• Examples of animals that hibernate: bears and ground squirrels

14. What is a learned behavior?

• Learned behaviors are not instincts. It is a behavior that developed by watching or hearing other animals.

Example: Tiger cubs learn to hunting skills by watching its mother hunt and by playing with other tiger cubs.

Example: Chimpanzees learn many behaviors that help them survive. Chimps’ uses sounds that help them communicate with one another. Warning/danger sounds as well as happy sounds help them survive.

Example: Teaching a dog how to sit before getting a treat is also a learned behavior.