Homework Index

Desert Animals

Camels

Desert Tortoise

Fennec Fox

Saguaro Cactus

Tropical Grassland

Giraffes

Lions

Lizards

Arctic Conditions

Penguins

Polar Bears

Dolphins

Frogs

Snakes

Small-eared Zorro

Other Creatures

Use the links

above to find

out more.

How can animals live
in such different places in the world?

Animals and plants are adapted to the conditions of the habitats in which they live.

Animals live everywhere on Earth. Some places on Earth are very hot and some are very cold. Some places on Earth have a lot of water and plants, and other places have very little water and few plants. More than 99 percent of Antarctica is covered with ice but a few plants still grow there, mostly lichens, mosses, and algae. Antarctica is very cold.

Animals can live in many different places in the world because they have special adaptations to the area they live in.

Animals depend on their physical features to help them obtain food, keep safe, build homes, withstand weather, and attract mates. These physical features are called called physical adaptations. They makes it possible for the animal to live in a particular place and in a particular way.

Each adaptation has been produced by evolution. This means that the adaptations have developed over many generations.

Examples of the basic adaptations that help creatures survive:

• shape of a bird's beak,
• the number of fingers,
• colour of the fur,
• the thickness or thinness of the fur,
• the shape of the nose or ears

What is a mimicry adaptation?

Mimicry is adapting to look like something else. An example would be the hawkmoth as it looks just like a dead leaf, tattered and veined.