Adaptation
Adaptation is a special change that helps living things survive in their environment. These changes happen slowly over many years. Because of adaptation, living things can protect themselves, find food, and stay comfortable in hot, cold, wet, or dry places. Some adaptations happen in the body, and some are in the way they behave. Adaptation helps every living thing live better in its surroundings.
1. Cactus plants store water in their thick stems to survive in the hot desert.
2. Polar bears have thick fur and fat to stay warm in freezing places.
3. Fish have gills to breathe underwater.
4. Camels have long eyelashes to keep sand out of their eyes in the desert.
5. Leaves of water lilies are broad and flat so they can float on water.
1. Adaptation helps living things survive in their environment
It allows them to live safely in hot places, cold places, deserts, forests, water, and all types of habitats. Without adaptation, they cannot survive properly.
2. Adaptation happens very slowly over many generations
It does not happen in one day or one year. It takes thousands of years where small changes get passed from parents to children, and finally become permanent.
3. Adaptation helps living things meet their basic needs
It helps them get food, find water, protect themselves from danger, adjust to climate, and stay comfortable in their surroundings.
4. Adaptation can be structural, behavioral, or physiological
Structural – changes in body parts
Behavioral – changes in actions or habits.
Physiological – changes inside the body’s functions
These three types together help the living thing survive better.