Adaptation

We will learn how desert animals are adapted to live in such

desert conditions.
What are Adaptations?
• An adaptation is an evolved trait that helps an organism
survive and reproduce in its environment. To decide whether
a characteristic is an adaptation or not, we need to study
the environment that the organism lives in because the
environment influences the way organisms evolve. For
example: Camels.
Camels
Camels have thick lips which let them
forage for thorny plants other animals
can't eat. Camels can completely shut
their nostrils during sandstorms. Thanks
to thick pads of skin on their chest and
knees, camels can comfortably sit in very
hot sand. Camels can live for upto 40
years. Camels are herbivores which can
store water in their stomach for at least
1 week. Camels sleep while standing and
sleep for 6 hours at night. So why do
camels have humps on their backs? The
answer: fat storage. ... When food is
available, camels eat enough calories to
build up their humps so they can survive
long periods of time when food is scarce.
With a "full" hump, a camel can go up to
four or even five months without food.
Cacti
Cacti are used to living in dry areas. Therefore,
they can store a great amount of water and store it
in stems and roots for surviving drought periods.
Besides water storage, stems are also used for
photosynthesis, a process of producing food from
sunlight and carbon dioxide. Roots of the cactus can
reach up to 7 feet (2.1m) in diameter, although
being just a few inches in the ground. The water is
easily passed through the sand, so cacti are focused
on low depth of the roots, but vide diameter, to
gather as much water as they can. Cacti have
cylindrical, tree-like, rounded, starfish or irregular
shapes. Their surface can be flat or covered in
ridges. The colors of cacti can be green, brown-
green or blueish. On a surface, cactus produces a
waxy substance, which prevents loss of water via
transpiration (evaporating of the water through
small holes during high-temperature periods. Cacti
have spines instead of leaves. And cacti store water
in themselves.
Why can’t camels and cacti live in northern areas, rainforests and oceans?

One adaptation of cacti are the spines that discourage animals from eating them,
one adaptation of camels is the ability to eat things with spines, but the
adaptations are geographically separated by a few thousand miles. Camels are old
world species while cacti are new world species and the two didn’t come in to
contact until well after 1492. Cacti and camels are adapted to live in deserts
because all the body needs are available in the desert.