1. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
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2. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
A characteristic that helps a living thing survive is called an adaptation.
Animals reproduce and pass that characteristic on to their young.
The adaptation becomes more common in the population. In this way, populations of plants and animals become adapted to their habitats.
If animals have similar habitats, they share similar adaptations.
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3. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
Describe some of the adaptations of the animals shown below.
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4. Form and Function Physical adaptations
Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
Form and Function
Physical adaptations
differences in the bodies of organisms
Help them survive in different environments
When an organism has a characteristic that helps it survive in a way that others cannot, the organism with the adaptation has an advantage.
Example - bison have horns and fur for protection and wide hooves to run fast on grass (These adaptations allow them to live on prairies.)
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5. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
Eat or Be Eaten
Physical adaptations can protect living things from being eaten.
Camouflage - keeps an animal hidden
(i.e. green lizards in green grass are
camouflaged)
Animals that hunt have physical adaptations that help them catch food.
Plants have adaptations that help spread their seeds. (wind carries them or they can be eaten and carried to a new location)
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6. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
Catching Flies
Bright coloring on an animal is often a warning that the animal is dangerous.
Mimicry is a physical adaptation that makes some animals resemble each other.
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7. On Your Best Behavior Behavior - The way living things act
Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
On Your Best Behavior
Behavior - The way living things act
Some are adaptations that help animals survive.
Behaviors that animals know how to do without being taught are called instincts.
Migration - animals move to different locations at certain times of the year to find food, reproduce, or escape cold weather.
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8. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
On Your Best Behavior
Hibernation - long period of inactivity that is like sleeping. The body processes of hibernating animals slow down.
The way that animals act toward other animals of the same type is called social behavior.
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9. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
The Circle of Life
Living things go through stages of growth and development called a life cycle.
A living thing’s life cycle is related to its habitat. Because of this, differences in life cycles are a type of adaptation.
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10. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
The Circle of Life
Some animals can adjust their life cycle to changes in their habitat.
Example - in a very dry year, a pregnant impala can wait up to a month, until rain falls, to give birth.
This life cycle variation helps make sure there is enough food and water for the young impalas to survive.
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11. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
Living Things Change
Every organism is slightly different from every other organism.
Example - corn snakes come in many colors and patterns. Their survival can depend upon their color and whether their predators can see them.
If the predator cannot see the snake, they are more likely to survive and produce more offspring with the same coloring.
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12. Unit 4 Lesson 6 What Are Physical and Behavioral Adaptations?
Living Things Change
Sometimes living things change because their environment changes.
Example - bacteria have changed with the discovery of antibiotics that kill them (The first antibiotic, penicillin, saved lives.)
Some bacteria resist penicillin, however, and survive and multiply. Researchers must find new antibiotics to kill the resistant bacteria.
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