Lesson

2 Essential Question

What Are
Objectives
• Describe physical
Some Animal
adaptations of animals.
• Identify behavioral
Adaptations? Engage

adaptations of animals.
Get Ready to Learn How did God make animals
• Describe some animal different? Can you think of animals that have special
behaviors that are adaptations that help them survive? Each adaptation an
learned. animal has helps it survive. Some of these adaptations
serve more than one purpose. A rhinoceros, for example,
Vocabulary has horns that it uses for several purposes. If a predator
such as a lion attacks, a rhino will use its horn to protect
camouflage . . . . p. 70
itself and its young. Rhinos also use their horns to fight
mimicry . . . . . . . p. 71 with other rhinos over territory, or for a mate.
behavioral
adaptation . . . . . p. 73 Try This! What is your favorite animal? List what you
know about the adaptations of this animal. How does the
instinct. . . . . . . . p. 73
animal use these adaptations to meet its needs? Describe
migration . . . . . . p. 74 the adaptations of your animal to a partner and ask how
learned the animal uses the adaptations to survive. If you are
behavior. . . . . . . p. 76 unsure about the adaptations of an animal, research it.

Find out what these

words mean as you
study this lesson.

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 ence
S ci
Structured Inquiry
S Record your work for this inquiry.
y..
Discover Your teacher may also assign the Jo
related Guided Inquiry. u r n al

The Beaks Have It!

How is the shape of a bird’s beak related to
what it eats?
!
SAFETY: Never eat or drink anything in science class.

Materials
• beaks: straws, tweezers, nutcrackers,
chopsticks, toothpicks, spoon
• food: gummy worms, sunflower seeds, plastic
foam pieces, marshmallows, rice, colored
water in a cup
• paper plates • plastic cup
• stopwatch or clock with second hand

Step 1 Place each food on a different paper plate.

Keep the water in the cup.

Step 2 Develop a hypothesis that has to do with

the tools. Which beak will work best for
eating the food or drinking the water?

Step 3 Investigate. Choose a “beak” to test first.

Use the stopwatch to time how much of
each type of food you can pick up and
place in an empty cup in 30 seconds with
your chosen beak.

Step 4 Record your data in a chart. Repeat Steps

3 and 4 for the next “beak.”

Create Explanations

1. How is the shape of a bird’s beak related

to what it eats?

2. How did using models help you conduct

an investigation about bird beaks?
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 Physical Adaptations Explain

T
Think When you dress, you may choose colors, patterns, and
About
A It shapes that attract attention. But suppose you did not want
Thinkk off another
Thi anyone to notice you. What colors, patterns, or shapes would
example of an animal you wear then?
that uses camouflage.
Animals cannot choose their color, pattern, or shape.
What advantage does
These are physical, or structural, adaptations. Many animals
camouflage give to the
have physical adaptations that serve as a disguise. They
animal?
can hide out in the open because they blend into their
environment. The adaptation that allows some animals to
blend into their surroundings is camouflage .
Color, patterns, and body shape are adaptations that help
camouflage both predators and prey. Because a polar bear’s
fur looks white, for example, it can blend in with the snow.
The polar bear can watch its prey without being seen, and
attack when the time is right. The spots on a fawn camoufl age
it from predators in the light of the forest. An insect shaped
like a twig is camouflaged by its shape.
This insect looks
like a leaf. Lesson Activity
Work with a partner. Cut an index card into four
equal pieces. These pieces will be “insects.” Keep two
pieces and give two to your partner. Color your cards
so they will be hard to see when placed on a surface
somewhere in the classroom. Ask your partner to close
his or her eyes while you tape your “insects” to the places
you have chosen. Have your partner open his or her eyes
and look for your “insects.” Time how long it takes your
partner to find the “insects.” Then switch roles and have
your partner hide his or her “insects.” Talk with your partner
about what made the “insects” easy or hard to find.
How did you color your “insects” to try to hide them?
How could you change your “insects” to hide them better?

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 red-spotted purple butterfly pipevine swallowtail

The red-spotted purple butterfly is a mimic of the poisonous

pipevine swallowtail butterfly. A bird can’t tell them apart, so it will
not eat either one.

God designed some animals to look, sound, or behave

like other animals. These other animals may have warning
signals to protect them. Their colors or patterns may inform
predators they are poisonous or taste horrible. The animals
that imitate them are neither poisonous nor terrible-tasting.
However, predators stay away anyway, because they
think both are the same kind of animal. When an animal
imitates another animal or object to avoid predators, it is
called mimicry .
An animal’s body covering is a physical adaptation too.
A fish’s scales keep water out of its body. Scales keep a
reptile’s body from drying out. The moist skin of amphibians
is adapted for water. Birds’ feathers provide warmth, help
birds fly or swim, and keep them dry. Fur or hair protects
animals from extreme cold or heat and protects skin from
scrapes and scratches and too much Sun. Fur may be colored
or patterned to provide camouflage.

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 You already know that a bird’s
Woodpecker Adaptations beak is adapted to its foods. Did
• strong, sharp beak for drilling holes you know that other animals have
• stiff tail for support on the tree adaptations for specific purposes
• two toes point backward to help with too? Some animals have sharp,
climbing trees pointed teeth for eating meat. For
• very long tongue has a barb to skewer animals that swim, webbed feet are
insects an adaptation. They help the animal
swim faster and easier.

Explore-a-Lab
Structured Inquiry
What adaptations will help an animal survive in a new
environment?
Working in a group, write a list of your favorite animals on small
slips of paper. Place them in a cup or hat. Then write a list of
environments, such as tundra, rain forest, and desert, on slips
of paper and place them in another cup or hat. Make sure you
have an equal number of environments and animals.
Without looking, choose one animal. Then choose an
environment. Consider what adaptations the chosen animal
might need to survive in the chosen environment. Draw the
animal and label its adaptation. Communicate and explain why
you changed the features of the model animal as you did.
Choose another animal and environment. Continue until all
animals and environments have been chosen.

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 Behaviors That Are
Instincts Explain

Camouflage, mimicry, and animals’ body parts and

coverings are physical adaptations. The way in which an
animal behaves is an adaptation, too—a behavioral
adaptation . Behaviors that animals are born knowing how Think
T
to do are instincts . A lion preying upon a zebra and a bird About It
A
building a nest are examples of instincts. When animals flee
Prey animals often
from danger, they are following their instincts.
live in groups.
Why do some animals like to live in groups? Some animals Predators also
are safer in a group. It’s harder for predators to choose one sometimes live
from a moving herd. Zebras’ stripes confuse predators when in groups. What
zebras travel in large groups. Although fully grown male bison advantages might
are safe from most predators, they live in groups and form a predators gain from
circle to protect their females and young. living in groups?

Behavioral Adaptations
Puffer Fish Puffer fish can Fish Fish and other animals Opossum Opossums can
inflate to several times their travel in groups for protection and roll onto their backs, slow their
normal size. to find food. breathing, and become stiff,
as if dead.

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 You may know that some animals travel south in the
fall and return home in the spring. These animals are
migrating. Migration is the act of traveling from one place
to another, and back again. It is an instinctual behavior.
For example, many birds that breed and raise their young
in North America migrate in autumn. The areas where they
spend winters are South and Central America, the Caribbean
Islands, and the far southern United States.
Why do animals migrate? When it gets cold and the
ground is covered with snow and ice, it’s hard for many
animals to find food and stay warm. However, some animals
migrate during times other than fall. Wildebeests in Africa,
for example, migrate throughout the year, always looking for
grass and water.

Explore-a-Lab
Structured Inquiry
How will earthworms respond to light?
Work in small groups. Wet two paper towels and place them at
the bottom of a tray. Place an earthworm in the center of the
tray. Cover the tray with a cardboard lid that has a small hole
about 5 cm (2 in.) from one side of the piece of cardboard. Set
up a light so it shines through the hole in the lid. Wait for ten
minutes. Then remove the lid and observe the location of the
earthworm.

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 Female loggerhead turtles leave feeding areas and travel
hundreds of miles to nesting grounds, where they lay their
eggs. Then they swim back to their feeding area. Salmon
spend most of their lives in the ocean even though they
were hatched from eggs in rivers or streams. When they are
ready to reproduce, they return to where they were hatched.
Dall sheep in Alaska migrate up and down mountains. They Scripture
spend summers near the top of mountains and then spend Spotlight
winter at lower elevations where there is less snow and where Read Proverbs 6:6–8
food is easier to find. and explain what
Rather than migrate when it gets cold, some animals stay animal adaptations
in the same place and hibernate, or go into a deep sleep. you read about.
Because they do not need a lot of energy while hibernating,
they survive the winter without much food. Animals that
hibernate include woodchucks, ground squirrels, and bats.
Snakes, turtles, and frogs also hibernate.

Lesson Activity
Find out about an animal that migrates to,
Canada geese migrate north
from, or through the area where you live.
in spring, and south in autumn.
Draw its migration route on a map.
What can you infer about the migration
of the animal you chose?

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 Learned Behaviors Explain

T
Think A cat races into the kitchen when it hears a can opener.
About It
A A deer returns every night to a backyard where people leave
food. A dog avoids skunks after being sprayed. After eating a
HHumans have both
bad-tasting insect, a bird stays away from other insects of the
instinctive and learned
same kind. These animals have learned these behaviors just
behaviors. Make a list
as you have learned to speak, read, ride a bicycle, or play a
of what you do each
sport. A behavior that is taught is a learned behavior .
morning before school.
Which are instinctive Learned behaviors are similar to adaptations because they
and which are learned help animals survive. But they are not adaptations because
behaviors? How do you they will not be inherited by offspring from their parents.
know? Young animals, however, can learn many behaviors from
watching their parents.
Animals learn behaviors through experience and practice.
A raccoon searches for food in a garbage can because it
has found food there before. If the garbage can is no longer
Focus on available, the raccoon’s behavior will no longer get it food.
Health
The raccoon will be forced to change its behavior.
What are some
healthy behaviors you Many animals learn behaviors from their parents or others
have learned? What of their own kind. Lions, for example, teach their cubs how
are some unhealthy to stalk and attack prey. Monkeys teach their young which
learned behaviors? leaves they can safely eat.

Some raccoons
open garbage cans.
This behavior is not
natural. It is a learned
behavior.

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 Make a Connection Extend

Make a list of ten adaptations that you have learned about in this
chapter. Choose one form of communication that is your adaptation
to learning. Write a poem or story, draw a picture, or make a cartoon
that describes or shows the adaptations you listed. Share your work.
When you adapt to learning, what is the benefit?

Lesson Review Assess/Reflect

Summary: What are some animal adaptations? Animals rely on physical

adaptations, instincts, and learned behaviors to survive in their environments.

1. Graphic Organizer Make a 4. Inquiry Practice Some animals’

cause-and-effect chart to tell what fur turns white at some times of
adaptations animals have and why the year. What can you infer is
they have them. the reason this occurs?

2. Vocabulary How is an instinct 5. What are two ways that animals

different from a learned behavior ? deal with changing weather?

3. Test Prep The nonpoisonous 6. Some female sea turtles return

scarlet king snake looks and acts to the beach where they were
like the dangerous coral snake. born to lay their eggs. What is
What is this an example of? this an example of? How do you
A. migration know this?
B. instinct 7. Review Proverbs 6:6–8. What
C. mimicry lessons do you think God wants
D. camouflage you to learn from the ants?

Family
Fa Link With a family member, visit a zoo or a park, or
observe
obs animals in your own backyard. Observe their physical
adaptations and record them in a chart. Then, use the Internet
adap
other reference sources to find out some of each animal’s
or o
instincts and learned behaviors. Add the information to your
chart. Share it with classmates.

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 Science and
Technology
Extend

Bioshelter Clay Pot Irrigation

Bioshelters are a way to raise plants and The buried clay pot irrigation system,
animals where people need them. Bioshelters invented in China, has been used for over 2,000
allow plants and animals to live where they years. It is an efficient way to water plants that
could not live in nature. A bioshelter is a solar grow in dry areas.
greenhouse. It protects the plants and animals
Clay pots are buried in a garden or small field.
inside. Bioshelters are used to grow crops for
Then the pots are filled with water. The water
food. They have ponds with fish. They also
slowly leaks out through the clay walls of the
include insects and other animals. That helps
pots. The plants pull only as much water as they
keep the shelter habitat in natural balance.
need from the pots.
The greenhouse protects the life inside of
Most irrigation systems water plants at
it. Solar energy heats it. The ponds help keep
regular times. The clay pot irrigation system
the temperature inside from getting too hot or
provides continuous moisture at the plants’ roots
too cold. Insects are used to naturally control
where it is needed. Water is added to the buried
harmful pests. Someday, people may live inside
clay pots only once or twice a week. No water
bioshelters.
is wasted.
This irrigation system has been used
successfully by farmers in parts of Latin America,
Asia, and Africa. Tomatoes, corn, beans, onions,
and garlic are grown using this system. Farmers
in Mexico and India can now grow enough to
feed themselves and sell extras at the market.

Concept Check
1. How do bioshelters help living things survive in environments
where they do not naturally live?
2. How would clay pot irrigation be useful to people who live in
the desert?

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 Herpetologist Careers in
A herpetologist studies amphibians and
reptiles. Amphibians and reptiles are vertebrates
Science
(animals with backbones). They are ectotherms. Extend

That means they use behavior to control body

temperature. They depend on heat from the Animal Behaviorist
environment to keep them warm.
Animal behaviorists study how animals act in
Amphibians their natural habitats. They help protect animals
hatch from eggs whose natural habitats are endangered. They
in water. As they also study ways to help people and animals live
grow, they develop together.
lungs and legs that
Animal behaviorists study how animals take
allow them to live on land. Some amphibians are
care of their young. They study how animals find
frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts.
food, water, and shelter. They also study how
Reptiles hatch from eggs on land. Reptiles animals protect themselves from predators.
have lungs to breathe air when they hatch. Some
Some animal behaviorists design healthy
reptiles are alligators, crocodiles, turtles, snakes,
living areas for animals in zoos or aquariums.
and lizards.
They train service animals for disabled people.
Some herpetologists study amphibians to They also help pets that behave badly. Animal
see what affect humans have on their habitat. behaviorists use what they learn to better
Some herpetologists study ways to use venom understand how humans behave and learn.
from amphibians and reptiles to help people.
Other herpetologists work to teach people about
this diverse group of animals. There are almost
8,500 species of amphibians and reptiles. Since
there are so many, herpetologists usually pick a
specialty.

Concept Check
1. Is the herpetologist holding an amphibian or a reptile? How do
you know?
2. How can studying animal behavior help animals that belong to
an endangered species?

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