Inherited Traits and Adaptive Characteristics Life Science Lesson 2 TEKS: 5.9A, 5.9C, 5.10A, 5.10B

Rabbit Rose Traits Organism has red petals. Organism has thorny stems Organism has fur. Organism has long feet. Organism has long ears. Organism has short tail. Organism has long front teeth for cutting grass. Organism is smaller than a beach ball. Organism has red petals. Organism has thorny stems Organism has a sweet smell. Organism has medium sized leaves. Rabbit Rose

Inherited traits Passed down from parent. Examples: eye color, hair (color, texture, curly, straight),right handed/ left handed, tongue rolling, ear lobes

Change or Die Some traits help an organism survive in its environment. When the environment changes, organisms must try to adapt or change. When an organism cannot adapt to changes in its environment it may parish or die.

Organisms’ Behaviors Instinctive: born knowing how to do something Examples: plants grow toward sunlight, newborn animals know how to cry for food Learned: taught or develops through experience Examples: Coyote learns not to mess with a skunk or avoids cactus plants. **All plant behaviors are instinctive

Vocabulary Traits: characteristics of an organism Inherited traits: characteristics passed down from parents to offspring Offspring: children Adapt: change Perish: die

Vocabulary Adaptation: a change an organism undergoes in order to survive Reproduce: to make offspring Instinctive behaviors: behaviors that are inherited Learned behaviors: behaviors that are learned