Life Processes
Virginia Standards of Learning 3.4
The student will investigate and understand that adaptations allow animals to satisfy life needs and respond to the environment. Key concepts include
a) behavioral adaptations; and
b) physical adaptations.
Undersanding the Standards
In order to survive, animals act in different ways to gather and store food, find shelter, defend themselves, and rear their young.
Physical adaptations help animals survive in their environment (e.g., camouflage, mimicry).
Various animals possess adaptations which help them blend into their environments to protect themselves from enemies (camouflage). Camouflage is the means by which animals escape the notice of predators, usually because of a resemblance to their surroundings using coloration or outer coverage patterns.
Mimicry occurs when a species has features similar to another species. Either one or both are protected when a third species cannot tell them apart. (Mimicry happens in both animal and plant species.) Some animals look like other animals to avoid being eaten (mimicry). This adaptation helps protect them from their predators. (For example, the viceroy butterfly tastes good to birds, but the monarch butterfly tastes bad. Because the viceroy looks like the monarch butterfly, it is safer from predators.) Mimicry can also occur as mimicked behaviors, mimicked sounds, or mimicked scents.
Behavioral adaptations allow animals to respond to life needs. Examples include hibernation, migration, dormancy, instinct, and learned behavior.
Some animals (e.g., groundhogs, black bears) go into a deep sleep in which their body activities slow down due to seasonal changes and they can live off stored food (hibernation). Hibernation is a condition of biological rest or inactivity where growth, development, and metabolic processes slow down.
Some animals (e.g., geese, monarch butterflies, tundra swans) go on a long-distance journey from one place to another (migration) in search of a new temporary habitat because of climate, availability of food, season of the year, or reproduction.
Dormancy is a state of reduced metabolic activity adopted by many organisms (both plants and animals) under conditions of environmental stress or, when such stressful conditions are likely to appear, as in winter.
Some animals are born with natural behaviors that they need in order to survive in their environments (instincts). These behaviors are not learned but are instinctive, such as a beaver building a dam or a spider spinning a web.
Some behaviors need to be taught in order for the animal to survive, such as a bear cub learning to hunt (learned behavior).
Physical adaptations help animals survive in their environment (e.g., camouflage, mimicry).
Various animals possess adaptations which help them blend into their environments to protect themselves from enemies (camouflage). Camouflage is the means by which animals escape the notice of predators, usually because of a resemblance to their surroundings using coloration or outer coverage patterns.
Mimicry occurs when a species has features similar to another species. Either one or both are protected when a third species cannot tell them apart. (Mimicry happens in both animal and plant species.) Some animals look like other animals to avoid being eaten (mimicry). This adaptation helps protect them from their predators. (For example, the viceroy butterfly tastes good to birds, but the monarch butterfly tastes bad. Because the viceroy looks like the monarch butterfly, it is safer from predators.) Mimicry can also occur as mimicked behaviors, mimicked sounds, or mimicked scents.
Behavioral adaptations allow animals to respond to life needs. Examples include hibernation, migration, dormancy, instinct, and learned behavior.
Some animals (e.g., groundhogs, black bears) go into a deep sleep in which their body activities slow down due to seasonal changes and they can live off stored food (hibernation). Hibernation is a condition of biological rest or inactivity where growth, development, and metabolic processes slow down.
Some animals (e.g., geese, monarch butterflies, tundra swans) go on a long-distance journey from one place to another (migration) in search of a new temporary habitat because of climate, availability of food, season of the year, or reproduction.
Dormancy is a state of reduced metabolic activity adopted by many organisms (both plants and animals) under conditions of environmental stress or, when such stressful conditions are likely to appear, as in winter.
Some animals are born with natural behaviors that they need in order to survive in their environments (instincts). These behaviors are not learned but are instinctive, such as a beaver building a dam or a spider spinning a web.
Some behaviors need to be taught in order for the animal to survive, such as a bear cub learning to hunt (learned behavior).
Activities/ Interactive websites For Students
http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/climate/adaptations/index.cfm
- This website is both educational and fun. It allows students to identify different types of animals and their racing against a clock to see how much information they and remember or reiterate.
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
-This is a great website to let kids play around with after they've been introduced to the concept of adaptations. Children can have fun making avatars with crazy features and adaptations.
http://www.quia.com/rr/109974.html?AP_rand=1294064725
- With a 30 day free trial you can have your kids interact with this website because it is a great way for students to test their knowledge in a game format on basic facts about animal adaptations.
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/animal-adaptations/
- Lesson plan for teachers to expand students’ knowledge of animal features and behaviors that can help or hinder their survival in a particular habitat.
BOOKS
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Rose, Elizabeth. Animal Adaptations for Survival. New York: Rosen Pub. Group's PowerKids, 2006. Print. 1404228179
- This book is incredible it helps students Discover both the physical and behavioral adaptations that help animals survive in their changing environments.
Link is attached to the picture
McNulty, Faith, and Ted Lewin. How Whales Walked into the Sea. New York: Scholastic, 1999. Print. 0590898302
- This is a simple book which feels more like a storybook than a science book. It is a gentle look at evolution, but because it is focused on only one animal, it can give more detail than a general book on evolution of this size.
Link is attached to the picture