Structural and Behavioural Adaptations
most animalshave adaptations that help them survive and thrive. Some adaptations are structural. Structural adaptations are physical features. Other adaptations are behavioral. Behavioral adaptations are the things animals do to survive. For example, bird calls and migration are behavioral adaptations. Adaptations are the result of evolution. Evolution is a change in a species over long periods of time. Adaptations usually happen by accident! Some mutations can help an animal or plant survive better than others in the species without the mutation. For example, imagine a bird species. One day a bird is born with a beak that is longer than the beak of other birds in the species. The longer beak helps the bird catch more food. Because the bird can catch more food, it is healthier than the other birds, lives longer and breeds more. The bird passes the gene for a longer beak on to its offspring. Eventually the longer beak can be found in all of the species. This doesn't happen overnight. It takes thousands of years for a mutation to be found in an entire species. Over time, animals that are better adapted to their environment survive and breed. Animals that are not well adapted to an environment may not survive. Here is a video about adaptation: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28764-assignment-discovery-evolution-adaptation-video.htm |
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