Transcript Title of slide

What is adaptation?
Adaptation is something that happens as
animals and plants evolve.
Over time they adapt to the environment
they live in, in different ways to help them
survive.
For example a polar bear adapts to its
habitat by having:
• Thick fur to keep warm.
• White fur to camouflage it against
the snow when hunting for prey.
• Thick, sharp claws and teeth to
help it catch its prey.
Can you think of any ways that
animals or plants have adapted
to living in their habitat?
How have marine species
adapted to living in their
habitats?
How have sea anemones adapted to living
in their habitat?
Sea anemones camouflage themselves so that small
fishes and shrimps will come closer to them.
A sea anemone is a slow moving animal so it has
adapted by using tentacles to sting small fishes
and shrimps and drag them into its mouth.
When the water is drained from a rock pool with
the tide, sea anemones adapt by closing their
tentacles so that they are protected.
How have starfish adapted
to living in their habitat?
Starfish have hundreds of tiny suckers
underneath each arm. These help them to
strongly attach themselves to rocks, protecting
themselves from waves.
If they lose their arms starfish can grow new
ones.
Starfish are very slow moving so they have
adapted to eating slow moving shellfish.
How have sea urchins
adapted to living in
their habitat?
A sea urchin has hundreds of sharp spines
to protect itself from predators.
It has sharp teeth to scrape algae off of
rocks and to gnaw a hole for itself within
the rock to make itself a home.
It uses many long suction tubes to hold
onto rocks when large waves crash on to it.
How have limpets adapted to living
in their habitat?
Limpets have very hard conical shells which help
protect them from waves crashing into them
and also from humans stepping on them!
Limpets have a sandpaper-like tongue called a
radula to help them scrape algae from the rocks.
Limpets clasp tightly to rocks by
carving themselves a place called a
home scar. This makes it very
difficult to remove them from the
rock and helps to protect them.
How have mussels adapted to living
in their habitat?
Mussels have strong byssal threads that
they use to attach their shells to the
rocks.
During low tides mussels close up their
shells tightly to protect themselves from
drying out.
Mussels live in large groups known as mussel
beds to protect themselves from predators.
How have barnacles
adapted to living in their
habitat?
Barnacles attach themselves to rocks, and form
a cone shaped shell made of calcium carbonate
plates to protect themselves.
Barnacles have adapted to close their shells up
tightly so they can stay out of water for long
periods of time without drying up.
A barnacle uses its legs to filter its food,
plankton, from the water.
How have crabs adapted to living in
their habitat?
Crabs have hard shells to help protect
them from predators.
When a crab gets too big for its shell it
moults. A moulted crab has a very soft,
delicate body, so it has to find a place to
hide from predators. Once it has found its
hiding place it takes in lots of water and
becomes even bigger! It continues to hide
away from predators until it grows a new
bigger shell.
A hermit crab has a soft body
and does not have a shell of its
own. It has adapted by making its
home in other abandoned shells.
When it gets too big for a shell
it moves to another!