Page 30 - ACTIVE SCIENCE 4 TOC

A daptations in Animals

Every organism undergoes a change over a period of time to adapt to its surroundings.
Animals too change. The characterstics which make an organism to adjust and survive
in its surroundings is called adaptation. The animals adapt to their environment
for their survival. Let us study about different animals and their adaptations.

Adaptations to Environment
The different natural surroundings where different animals live are called its
habitat. On the basis of different habitats, animals are categorised as terrestrial,
aerial, aquatic and arboreal.

Terrestrial Animals

The animals that live on land in different climatic
conditions are called terrestrial animals. Horses,
camels, bears, foxes, humans are examples of such
animals.
Animals that live in cold regions like polar bear, Polar Bear

fox, penguins have a thick coat of fur to keep them
warm because polar regions are extremely cold.
Animals living there have a thick layer of fat under
the skin to protect them from cold. This layer is
called blubber.
Yak
Animals like bears sleep for a long time in winter
because of scarcity of food, and therefore, they
remain inactive during cold weather. This long
winter sleep is called hibernation.

For most of the time of the year, mountains are Sheep
also very cold. Animals like mountain sheep, goat, yak, etc., have thick fur on their
body that keeps them warm during cold weather. These animals also have strong
hooves, a major help in walking on the mountainous slopes.

Camels, lizards and desert snakes are desert
animals. Deserts usually have extreme hot
weather. Animals who live in desert have thick
skin and less hair on their body, which help
them to prevent water loss from their body.
Lizard
Snails, lizards and earthworms sleep for a long
time in summer to escape from the heat. This
long summer sleep is called aestivation.
Snake

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