Adaptations to Habitat

1. Adaptations to Habitat

2. Learning objectives • State the adaptations required in the desert and arctic • Describe how musk ox and penguins are adapted to the arctic • Describe how animals are adapted to survive in the desert

3. Starter • list adaptations needed for animals to survive in this habitat

4. Introduction • Animals need food and water to stay alive. • In dry environments there is very little water for much of the time. • Some dry environments, such as deserts, can also be very hot. • Animals that live in deserts need adaptations to help them survive the heat and lack of water.

5. Introduction • Small desert animals, such as kangaroo rats, live in holes in the ground during the middle of the day. • They come out to hunt for food when it is cooler. • Being small also makes it easier for them to lose heat from their body. • Small desert mammals have special adaptations in their kidneys so that they excrete urine that contains very little water.

6. Task 1:Questions: 1 Why is there very little water in a desert? 2 Why is hunting early and late in the day an adaptation to living in the desert? 3 Write down one advantage of the Kangaroo Rat living underground in the desert? b Write down one disadvantage.

7. Huddling penguins • Why do penguins huddle together?

8. Task 2: Data: Huddling penguins Work out total heat lost for single, inner and outer grouped penguins

9. Task 3: chart Huddling penguins Pupils draw chart to show results Heat lost single inner outer

10. Insulation from the cold. • It is easier to keep warm if you have a big, bulky body because you lose heat less rapidly. • Insulation also reduces heat loss from the skin. • Arctic land mammals have very thick fur which insulates them from the cold winds. • They may store extra fat in a layer under their skin as insulation.

11. Task 4: questions Insulation from the cold. 4. During the Arctic summer, mammals moult a lot of their fur.Explain why they do this. 5. During the Arctic winter, a mother polar bear stays in a den with her cubs.Give as many reasons as you can why this is an adaptation to living in the Arctic.

12. Summary task Animals that live in dry environments have adaptations that reduce _______________ loss. Some animals only hunt at night when it is _______________, while some live underground all the time. Animals that live in _______________ environments have _______________, such as thick fur and a thick layer of fat. They also often have big, bulky bodies. cold cooler insulation water

13. Learning objectives • State the adaptations required in the desert and arctic • Describe how musk ox and penguins are adapted to the arctic • Describe how animals are adapted to survive in the desert