The platypus is a mammal that lays eggs The platypus is a mammal that lays eggs. It has specialized body parts for swimming and for eating in water. Why do you think it has webbed feet? Chapter 3 ADAPTATIONS

How Do Animals’ Bodies Help Them Meet Their Needs? This toucan is an eye-catching sight! Its long colorful beak looks heavy, but it’s really very light. The long beak helps the toucan reach fruit at the ends of branches.

Lesson 1 Vocabulary Basic needs— Food, water, air, and shelter that an organism needs to survive. Adaptation— A body part or behavior that helps an organism survive.

Lesson 1 (page 98) Food & Water All living things, from ants to tigers to you, have the same basic needs. These basic needs are food, water, air, and shelter (4 items needed to survive). Living things meet their needs in a variety of ways. Plants can make their own food, but they must have sunlight to do it. Most other living things depend on plants—or on animals that eat plants—for food. Many animals, such as frogs and wolves, get their food by catching it. Some animals, such as vultures, wait until another animal has killed something. Then they eat the leftovers. Humans get most of their food by growing and raising plants and animals.

Lesson 1 (page 99) Shelter Food Air Plants get water from rain and from moist soil. Many animals drink water from streams and puddles. All animals must take in oxygen. Animals that live on land and some animals that live on water get oxygen from air. Other animals that live in water get oxygen from the water. Shelter can take many forms. Some insects live under rocks, while foxes make dens in hollow logs. Delicate plants grow in protected places. People build homes of many sizes and shapes. Meeting basic needs isn’t always easy, but living things must do it to survive. Food Air

Lesson 1 (page 100) Plants and Animals have adaptations that help them meet their needs. An adaptation is a body part or a behavior that helps a living thing survive. One adaptation is fur color. For example, during the summer, the snowshoe hare is rusty brown. This helps it blend with the ground. In the winter, the rabbit’s fur turns white, which helps it blend with the snow. The color change helps the rabbit hide from enemies.

More About Adaptations! Adaptations Video! Camel Adaptations Rap!

Lesson 1 (page 100) Instead of fur, fish and reptiles have scales. Their scales help protect them from injury and from drying out. Often, the color and pattern of their scales help them hide from enemies. Many frogs and lizards have long tongues that help them catch insects. Imagine how such a long tongue would look on a lion! Lions have other adaptations that help them catch their food, such as speed, strength, long claws, and sharp teeth. Different beaks and feet on birds help them meet their needs. A robin’s feet allow it to perch on a branch. An eagle’s claws help it snatch up food, while a penguin’s feet help it swim.

Lesson 1 (page 101)

Lesson 1 (page 101) Monarch butterflies migrate up to 3,000 miles. As the weather cools, monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains fly to the west coast to rest for the winter. During a long, cold winter, food and water can be scarce. Animals need more shelter. Many adapt to winter by migrating or hibernating. Migration means “moving from a summer home to a winter home and back again.” Gray whales’ bodies allow them to swim 10,000 to 14,000 miles a year. They spend summer in the Arctic. In the fall, they swim to warmer waters. During hibernation, an animal’s heart and breathing rates slow almost to a stop. Bats, ground squirrels, and woodchucks/groundhogs hibernate. Bears, skunks, and chipmunks sleep a lot. This helps them survive the cold winter months. Yet their body systems are still active. They are not hibernating.

Lesson 1 (page 102) All plants and animals follow a cycle of life. It begins with sprouting, being born, or hatching. Then the seedling or baby grows into an adult. Adult living things reproduce in many ways. Some make seeds, some give birth to babies, and some lay eggs. The next part of the cycle is death and decay. Fungi, insects, and other plants help to decay, or decompose, dead organisms. The nutrients in a dead organism often become part of the soil. Living things can only complete the cycle if they are able to meet all their basic needs. If a plant or an animal can’t meet its needs, it might die before it can reproduce. If this continues for every member of the species, this kind of living thing will no longer survive on Earth.

Lesson 1 Review! Basic needs— Food, water, air, and shelter that an organism needs to survive. Adaptation— A body part or behavior that helps an organism survive.