1. Starter: Use three words to describe each of these environments.
The Arctic: 1) 2) 3)
The desert: 1) 2) 3)

2. Adaptation
Adaptation is a special feature or behaviour that makes an organism particularly suited to its habitat.
Adaptations may be general or specific.
General = having legs to walk or fins to swim
Specific = special features so an animal can survive in is environment

3. A Shark’s General Adaptations
What are a shark’s general adaptations to life in an aquatic environment?
streamlined shape to reduce friction when moving through water
fins provide stability, power and control
gills have a large surface area so that oxygen can be
extracted from the surrounding water
Photo credit: © 2006 Jupiterimages Corporation

4. A Shark’s General Adaptations
What are a shark’s specific adaptations to life as an aquatic predator?
specialized sense organs can detect the sound, movement and electrical fields of other organisms
highly sensitive sense of smell that can detect drops of blood from miles away
lots of very sharp teeth that are constantly replaced
Photo credit: © 2006 Jupiterimages Corporation
Teacher notes
A shark’s teeth are not fixed to its jaw but embedded directly into the flesh. Its teeth are constantly replaced as they fall out or are broken, so that a shark may get through thousands of teeth during its lifetime. The lower teeth are mainly used for holding prey, while the upper teeth are used for cutting.
The shark’s specialized sense organs include:
lateral lines – a row of fluid-filled sensory canals along each side of the shark. These can detect movement and changes in pressure from about 100m away.
ampullae of Lorenzini – small pits in the shark’s snout that detect tiny electrical fields, such as those associated with muscle contraction of prey.
auditory system – can detect the sound created by injured prey from over 1 mile away.
silver colouring underneath acts as camouflage

5. Compare these two animals…
Desert Fox Arctic Fox

6. Adaptations
The two environments we saw before are harsh environments for animals to survive in so the animals have had to adapt to survive.
Climate adaptations- animals are adapted to survive in the conditions in which they live

7. Animals in Cold Climates
Arctic animals must keep themselves warm to survive.
You loose body heat through your body surface, mainly your skin.
Arctic animals have developed many adaptations to help them survive…

8. What do these animals have in common?
Look at the following…
What do these animals have in common?

9. Animals in Cold Climates
Common features:
Thick fur coats
Layer of blubber under the skin
Colour – many change colour in the summer
What about body shape?

10. Body Shape Have fat, round body shapes with short legs
Have small ears – why?

11. Animals in Dry Climates
Animals in dry climates have to keep themselves cool to survive.
They also have to cope with a lack of water.
This means they are unable to loose heat through sweating – why?

12. What do these animals have in common?
Look at the following…
What do these animals have in common?

13. Animals in Dry Climates
Common features:
Large thin ears
Little body fat
Thin, silky fur
Long limbs to help spread heat
They also often only come out at night. Why?
What about body shape?

14. Body Shape

15. Surface Area to Volume Ratio
Animals loose heat from the body surfaces that are in contact with the surrounding air/water.
Reducing this contact surface reduces heat loss
Increasing the surface increases heat loss

16. Surface Area to Volume Ratio
Hidden surfaces are exposed

17. Compare these two animals…
Desert Fox Arctic Fox
Can you add any adaptations or reasons for the adaptation?

18. True or false? Teacher notes
This true-or-false activity could be used as a plenary or revision exercise on adaptation, or at the start of the lesson to gauge students’ existing knowledge of the subject matter. Coloured traffic light cards (red = false, yellow = don’t know, green = true) could be used to make this a whole-class exercise.