Acquired vs. Inherited Traits

1. Every living thing has a set of characteristics. These are the things you use to identify something, like the fact that a tiger has black stripes or that a sea star has five legs. You have characteristics too, like your hair and eye color and your favorite foods and activities. Biologists call these things traits.

Which of the following is an example of a trait?

• Goldfinches are yellow with black and white wings.

• Sharks have multiple rows of teeth. wings.

• Marco has brown eyes.

• all of the above

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1. Have you ever seen someone who looks just like one of their parents? Children can look like their parents because of something called heredity. Heredity is the passing down of genes from generation to generation. Children got about half of their DNA from each of their biological parents. Together, genes tell the body how to function and what to look like. The traits that come from parents are called inherited traits. Your inherited traits are with you from birth.

Where do inherited traits come from?

• what a person learns in school

• a person’s biological parents

• a person's friends

• a person’s environment

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There are many other things about you that don’t depend on your DNA. Examples include what language you speak, what books you like to read, how you cut your hair and if you have any scars. All these things are affected by your environment and the things you’ve learned and experienced throughout your life. This makes them acquired traits. To acquire means to get, so these are the things you’ve picked up along the way throughout your life. Since they’re not in your DNA, you won’t pass them on to your children genetically. For example, if you have a scar from falling off your scooter, your children won’t be born with that scar.

Which of the following describes a person’s acquired trait(s)?

• Drea has curly hair

• Damien has red hair and blue eyes

• Cerise has long arms and small hands.

• Nicolle has strong legs from running every

  day.

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Many traits are not simply inherited of acquired. Things like personality, intelligence, even height, are more complicated than just DNA or only what you’ve learned. Scientists refer to the question of what determines these traits as the nature vs. nurture debate. “Nature” describes things that are in your DNA. “Nurture” describes things that you’ve learned.

Height is an example of something that isn’t as simple as what genes you have. While your DNA can determine how tall you can possibly be, environment and nutrition play a large role in determining how tall you actually grow. This makes a trait like height a combination of nature and nurture.

When scientists talk about something’s nature, they are talking about its

• nurture

• inherited traits

• acquired traits

• Combined inherited and acquired traits

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Which is an example of a trait that is inherited?

• dimples

• intelligence

• weight

• favorite color

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Which of these traits is most influenced by a person’s environment?

• ability to roll the tongue

• blood type

• weight

• eye color

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Which is most likely the reason parents and their children have similar physical traits?

• They live in the same home.

• They have similar genetic structures.

• They are born in similar environments.

• They have similar blood types.

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Which is a trait children most likely inherit from their parents?

• favorite color

• food preference

• freckles

• weight

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Some people have a “hitchhiker’s” thumb that allows them to bend their thumbs more than other people. How do these people most likely get this trait?

• They learn it from friends.

• They inherit it from their parents.

• They get it as a result of an illness.

• They get it as a result of their jobs

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Which characteristic is the best example of an inherited trait?

• short hair

• eye color

• pierced ears

• long fingernails