Lesson 4 What are Structural Adaptations

Lesson 4 What are Structural Adaptations

Staying Alive

• An adaptation is any trait that helps a living thing to survive.

• Animals that are hunted for food are called prey. Animals that hunt prey are called predators.

• Predators and prey have adaptations that help them catch food or avoid being eaten.

Staying Alive

A horse has flat teeth that allow it to grind the grass that it eats.

A tiger has sharp teeth that help it tear meat.

Staying Safe

Defense adaptations may attack a predator’s sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, or hearing.

A bad taste, loud noise, or nasty odor is often enough to make a predator go away.

Staying Safe

A porcupine raises its quills, swings its tail, and pokes its attacker to make it go away.

Staying Safe

A skunk’s spray has a bad odor. It’s a powerful defense against predators.

Multiple Choice

_________________ help living things survive in their environments.

• Adaptations

• Camouflage

Multiple Choice

Animals that are hunted for food are called___________________.

• prey

• predators

Multiple Choice

Animals that hunt prey are called________________.

• prey

• predators

Multiple Choice

__________________________ may attack a predator’s sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, or hearing.

• Defense adaptations

• mimicry

Creature Costumes

Some animals can hide without trying. These animals are hidden by their shapes, colors, or patterns.

Such disguises are called camouflage.

A snow leopard’s spots help it blend into the background of snow and rock.

Creature Costumes

What color should this lizard be to camouflage with the leaf? 

Creature Costumes

Some harmless animals look like animals that are harmful to predators. Since predators don’t know which animal is harmful, neither gets eaten.

Imitating the look of other animals is called mimicry.

Creature Costumes

Monarch butterflies make birds sick.

Viceroy butterflies mimic them to prevent getting eaten.

Multiple Choice

An adaptation that makes one organism look like another is called ____________________.

• camouflage

• mimicry

Multiple Choice

________________ helps an animal blend into its surroundings.

• Camouflage

• Mimicry

Multiple Choice

A monarch butterfly is very alike to the ______________ butterfly.

• viceroy

• plant

Plant Facts

Plants need water. There isn’t much water in a desert, so desert plants are adapted to hold moisture.

Desert plants such as cactuses have thick stems that store water.

Plant Facts

The leaves of many desert plants have a waxy coating that helps prevent water loss. Most desert plants have spines that help prevent water vapor from escaping from the plant.

Multiple Choice

Cactuses have ______________ stems that store water.

• thin

• thick

Multiple Choice

Most desert plants like cactuses, have _______________.

• leaves

• spines

Multiple Choice

The stone plant is a plant that looks a lot like a stone, this is an example of:

• mimicry

• camouflage

Multiple Choice

This picture is an example of:

• mimicry

• camouflage

Multiple Choice

This picture shows an example of:

• camouflage

• mimicry

Multiple Choice

This picture shows an example of:

• mimicry

• camouflage

Multiple Choice

This picture is an example of:

• mimicry

• camouflage