ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS

GRADE 4
Animal Adaptations
What do you do when you get a low grade? You
may study harder, which means you change your
behavior. When you eat something that tastes bad,
you might spit it out. Your taste buds, a physical
part of your body, tell you it tastes bad. Before you
were born, your mom had to take care of you during
a life cycle.
All animals and humans, like in the examples above,
use adaptations for survival. Adaptations are the
special features that help an animal live and survive
in certain places or habitats. There are three kinds
of animal adaptations: Behavioral, Physical, and
Life Cycle.

Behavioral Adaptations: Something an

animal does to help it survive.
Migration usually takes place in the winter. It is
when animals travel to a different place so it can
find food and survive.
Many birds fly long distances to escape the cold
winter, like the Arctic tern from the North Pole
that flies South all the way to Antarctica. The
monarch butterfl travels south during the
winter to where there are flowers.

Hibernation also takes place in the winter. An

animal will sleep throughout the winter, storing
food for survival. It wakes up once the
temperatures are warmer.
Many bears take long rests but also lightly sleep
during the winter months. Light sleepers like
raccoons, skunks, and opossums wake up
during the winter to eat. Snakes, turtles, and frogs
hibernate underground because they are cold-
blooded and need to protect themselves from
the cold temperatures.

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 Movements—many animals move a certain way
to help them survive.
Bats are nocturnal animals, so flying is tiring for
them during the day. They fly at night when it is
cool instead.

Interactions are the way animals behave with

each other.
The honey bee dance attracts a honey bee
to its mate. Honey bees also learn from other
bees how to pollinate flowers and collect honey.
A monkey removing parasites from another
monkey’s head is another example of an
interaction.

Sounds—animals use sounds to communicate,

and for other reasons.
Female lions roar to protect their young. And bird
calls are used for communication as well.

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Physical Adaptations: A physical part of an organism that helps it survive.
Body Structure, such as hair, shape, claws, feet, and other parts of the body help animals survive.
The fur on a bear helps keep it warm during cold weather. The ostrich has many thick feathers that help it
look bigger to scare away predators. Prairie dogs have sharp claws to help it dig their burrows and sharp
hearing so they can hear if a predator is coming.

Colors—used for camouflage, protection, and

mate attraction
Fish have color patterns that help them blend in
with their environment and avoid being seen by a
predator.
The chameleon changes colors and is able to
alter its colors to blend with nature.

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Life Cycle Adaptation: A process an animal
goes through to help it survive.
Life cycle is related to how the organism grows
and develops into an adult beginning at birth. Before
becoming a frog, the tadpole first hatched from
an egg, which was laid by an adult frog.
Atlantic salmon spend their early phase in
rivers before traveling or migrating to sea to
grow and mature. Butterflies go through four
stages of life. They start out as eggs, change
into caterpillars, then become pupae, and finally
adult butterflies.

Without these adaptations, animals and all

other living organisms would not be able to
survive. Some adaptations change over time
depending on the needs of the animal. Nearly
every adaptation—behavioral, physical, or life
cycle—helps an animal survive where it lives.
Though studying may not affect your survival, it is
something you do to prevent getting a bad
grade. And sometimes you have to adapt and study
harder.

Which of the above animal adaptations do you

think would help humans and why?

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 Activity Name __________________________ Date _________

Instructions

1. With your partner, you will create a “new” animal.

2. Your new animal can be created from your imaginations.

3. You will create a new name for your animal.

4. It can have legs, wings, both, fur, feathers, scales or whatever you decide it needs.

5. You will draw a picture of the animal. Include as much detail as possible.

6. In addition, you will describe your animal in words: its color(s) and size, how it moves, how it eats,
where it lives, who its enemies are, etc.

7. You will tell about the adaptations it uses to help it survive. They can be real adaptations or make-
believe.

8. The more detail you provide in the picture and in the description of your animal, the better.

9. To help you, think about the different animal adaptions from your reading. How can you change
them? Will your new animal have some of the same ones?

10. Once you have completed the assignment, you will present the picture and the information to your
class.

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 Practice Name __________________________ Date _________

In the boxes, describe one adaptation of the animal and the TYPE of adaptation.

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 Homework Name __________________________ Date _________

Match the statement with the correct term or animal.

1) Special features that help an animal live and survive.

A adaptations
2) Something an animal does to help it survive. B behavioral adaptation
C body structure
3) Takes place in winter when animals travel to different places. D butterflies
E colors
4) Animals sleep during the winter, storing food ahead of time. F hibernation
G interactions
5) Has sharp hearing and sharp claws. H life cycle adaptation
I migration
6) The way the animals behave with each other. J physical adaptation
K sounds
7) Most animals use these to communicate with each other. L prairie dogs

8) Parts of an animal that helps it survive.

9) A process an animal goes through to help it survive.

10) Hair, shapes, claws, feet, and other animal parts.

11) May be used for camouflage and protection.

12) This animal goes through 4 stages before adulthood.

What adaptation do you have as a human that you would not want to lose?