Adaptations to a Changing Environment

Think about a specific plant or animal–what are some characteristics it has that may help it survive? Has it always looked this way?

29 Responses

  1. Lydia says:

    An animal that has adapted to it environment is Polar Bears. Polar Bears have a thick fur coat to keep themselves warm in cold weather. They also have huge paws so they can walk across the ice and snow. They find holes in the ice and they watch and hunt for seals. I think that Polar bears have not always been this way because there has been a lot of time for them to change and to get better adaptations to its environment.

  2. Mya says:

    A bear can survive with its intimidating size and it had sharp claws to attack and sharp teeth to eat what they catch. They also have a loud roar that makes its prey scared or warned. A bear also doesn’t always eat animals/meat, some bears can eat berries. I think every animal has evolved from their original, even by a little so bears would have a few changes to their species over time to adapt to their environments.

  3. Ally says:

    I claim that Porcupines use their long and sharp needles called quills that are all over their back as a defense mechanism against other predators such as hunters and owls that are trying to attack them. Porcupines may have had shorter quills or the coloration of the quills could have changed over time.

  4. Elijah says:

    Spiders use their venom to dissolve their prey and then “suck” up the remains of the deteriorated prey. They most likely did not have this trait when they first were, and in fact got it over time through natural selection until it was more efficient than other previous traits.

  5. Allyssa says:

    My dog Shannon, like most other dogs, grows a thicker coat during the winter to keep herself warm. In the spring when it starts to get warmer she starts shedding it off, leaving just a thin coat on her body. Shannon would have frozen this winter if she didn’t have her thick coat to clothe her. I think there has to have been a time when dogs didn’t have this adaptation for the changing weather.

  6. Kyleisha says:

    A lot of worms have an organ in their body that helps detect chemical changes in their environments. Worms can also eat their weight. There are multiple types of worms, they all look different. All in all they still look the same.

  7. Raegan says:

    A snake that is native to a certain area have camouflage to “blend in” to their habitat to help with hunting, hiding, etc. A snakes form can also be considered an adaptation because it helps them with hunting. They can move easily,fast and can go into small holes that might be home to their prey. Another adaptation could be a snakes forked tongues, which they use to smell their surroundings. I do not think that snakes were always the same, due to fossils that were found that suggested that snakes were once lizards, but had changed overtime because they burrowed a lot.

  8. Maddox says:

    I think how a bloodhound could have adapted to survive is its nose and long ears to help smell and hear. When something is coming or near them. Maybe back then before they became man’s best friend. They could have not had long ears or it could have been a mutation and then that mutation helped them survive.

  9. Lily says:

    I claim that chameleons survive by having the ability to change colors, they camouflage so they won’t get attacked by some other kind of animal. They usually keep their legs under themselves just in case some animal tries to attack their legs. I’m pretty sure that chameleons always looked what they look like now that long time ago.

  10. chello says:

    Apes are the closest relatives to humans there are and due to them being mammals and having opposable thumbs along with a decent brain size some have even learned to talk but many people asume that we have evolved from them because of our similar natural characteristics like standing which can help these primates appear larger so they can scare off any threat or even help find a mate they also have hand like feet that can help them climb trees too get food run from other predators.

  11. Amaryllis says:

    Snakes have scales that are usually smooth so they can go along sand or grassy plains easier and faster. All snakes are carnivorous and eat their prey whole and their skulls and jaws are very flexible so they can eat their prey easier. I claim that millions of years ago they didn’t have these flexible jaws and couldn’t move around as fast. My evidence is, like most animals, they probably had to evolve and inherit these characteristics after time.

  12. cyrus says:

    I claim that a snakes had to adapt or change its ways. My evidence is once it moved to hot deserts they had to be camouflaged to look like the ground to catch their prey. Or have trained them selves to not eat for weeks at a time they probably didn’t have those traits before they were needed in desert.

  13. briar says:

    Wolf’s have adapted to the warm and cold weather. they use there four legs to ensure that they catch prey fast and easily. They have lots of fur which keeps them warm during the winter. They have a very strong sense of smell which also help them survive. I do not think they always had it easy but it think got easy.

  14. Robert says:

    I claim that a reptile uses some kind of camouflage to hide from predators or to attack prey. Some snakes use a venom to kill the prey, some other snakes choke them by wrapping themselves around them. Some frogs have a poison on their hands or on them. Reptiles had always looked this way they use these stuff to survive.

  15. susan says:

    Flying squirrels have skin connecting their legs and they use that to get their food by gliding. I claim that flying squirrels have not always looked that way but adapted that in response to their predators being unable to fly and being bound to mostly jumping and swinging from trees or running on the ground.

  16. Samara says:

    A few unique characteristics of the snowy owl are the fact that they have feathers on their toes to keep warm. Another adaptation is that they can hear a mouse that is ten inches beneath the snow while they are flying. My final characteristic is that they are mostly white for camouflage. I think that they have not always looked this way, because it seems unlikely that they never changed.

  17. ReAnn says:

    Wolves are almost the same like Dogs, But dogs may not have fur and it may have fur. Wolves has fur that’ll keep them warm in the winter and they stick in groups, like a wolf pack. Wolves environment might change, since they are mostly getting hunted by hunters, But they won’t go extinct since dogs are alike wolves. Wolves do look the same but they can change, like they can create a new species but they might look the same.

  18. Eben says:

    I claim that the goblin shark has adapted to a new way of hunting. The goblin shark has evolved to have a more affective way of hunting because of its jaw that can fly out of its mouth. Why it has this weird adaptation is because the shark needs this jaw to make up for the lack of speed compared to other kinds of sharks. Another kind of shark that lives in the same environment as the goblin shark is the ” mega mouth shark”. This shark stays in the deep abyss of the ocean but almost never comes up to the surface while the goblin shark comes up to the surface more often. The mega mouth does not go up to the surface because of it adapting to have very light sensitive eyes that are only used to seeing in deep dark places.

  19. Aurora says:

    Some dogs in the winter time grow a thick coat of fur so they don’t freeze, and when the snow starts melting and the temperature gets warmer, that coat will soon start thinning out. The dog will start shedding the extra fur they don’t need for the warmer time. I think there was a point in time where dogs didn’t have this adaptation.

  20. Lexi says:

    I claim that pufferfish also known as blowfish use many methods to adapt to the area they’re in helping them keep off predators and feed easily off of organisms. One thing the pufferfish is famous for is it’s ability to inflate this is known for scaring off possible threats by appearing bigger than it may be and also comes in use when something may try to consume it making it so the predator will not be able to swallow the pufferfish. If the pufferfish is not able to inflate before being consumed the pufferfish will release tetrodotoxin. Tetrodotoxin is extremely deadly and said to be even more 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. If a human happens to eat a pufferfish it is fatal, there is no known antidote. When it comes to the pufferfish being a predator to organisms it is almost very easy every time or them to find a food source as they mostly feed off of invertebrates and algae. If the food puts up a fight the pufferfish can use its hard beak to even crack open shells. I believe the pufferfish hasn’t always had these adaptations and it probably took a long time for these characteristics to form.

  21. grace says:

    I claim that the bird of paradise has many characteristics to help itself survive. The male bird of paradise has many interesting features like its bright feathers that go along with its dance.
    The dance and the bright colored feathers are used to help attract the females. The females on the other hand do have a special dance of bright feathers. Also most birds of paradise are very smart like they have good hearing.

  22. Conner says:

    I claim that beavers adapted to warm and cold temperatures my evidence is once they moved to mixed climates that involve seasons of warm and cold weather like say Minnesota, They needed to have a thick coat of fur in order to survive the winter they also adapted to gnawing wood contrary to popular belief beavers do not eat wood they gnaw it down to shorten their large front teeth that would otherwise penetrate their brain killing them no I don’t think beavers look the same as they used to.

  23. Nariah says:

    Elephants use their trunks to dig in the mud for food. Elephants also use their tusk to scrape on trees. Elephants didn’t look like this before once they didn’t have trunks they just had big weird noses. Elephants also use there big bodies to push up against something/another elephant for defense.

  24. Kiara says:

    Wolves have fur to keep them warm where there is snow, the have teeth that could be sharp and could survive with them. Wolves stick and travel together like in packs. Wolves environment can change due to people hunting them or other large animals kill them, I think that wolves won’t be extinct because they don’t travel alone and they defend themselves.

  25. Shae says:

    The Lappet-faced vulture is a great example of an animal that has adapted to its environment. Its entire body, from head to toe, has adapted to the way it eats and lives. This bird is a scavenger, so it does not hunt its own prey, but feeds off of carrion. When eating, it will often find itself inside the corpse of the dead animal, and so to stay clean it has a nearly bare head. It also has sharp, clawed feet, for rending the flesh of its meals. It has a large beak, one of the largest of all species of vulture. Finally, it is extremely lightweight, especially for its size. All of these and more are why they are excellent survivors in their desert environment. These traits were likely not present at the time of the first of these birds, and likely developed as they grew accustomed to their surroundings.

  26. glenn says:

    I claim that polar bear have somewhat webbed feet for swimming in the cold water, to catch food and swimming far distances. They have traction on the bottom of their paws to walk on ice and snowy hill sides. Their fur keeps them warm at night because of how cold it gets. Their soon going to have to adapt to a new environment soon due to global warming. I think polar bear’s did not always look like how they are today.

  27. Aji says:

    I claim that an animal that adapted over time is an octopus, They have adapted their body to camouflage. their camouflage is so good they can mimic the texture of rocks by them. they can also copy the way other animals act. They are master camouflagers.

  28. Gaven says:

    The skunk adapts to defend itself from predators by spraying a stinky spray at the predator.A skunk is black and white to warn predators.The skunk uses its spray for defense.

  29. Cade says:

    Humans have adapted over time to survive in warmer temps. Have you ever looked at the hair on the top of your big toe and wonderd “why is this usefull ?” “why is thair hair on my FEET ?” or “Dose every one have this ?”. Well the answer is that you have this because we adapted. Do you think that the Human race got created with all of the tech that we have today, all of the clothing that we have today. NO we were adapted. From what I don’t know.

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