Class Blog: Life Processes

    Animals and plants use two types of adaptation, behavioral and physical, in order to increase their chances of survival in their environment.

   Behavioral adaptation includes hibernation, migration and instincts. Hibernation means some animals (e.g., groundhogs, black  bears) go into a deep sleep in which their body activities slow down due to seasonal changes and they can live off stored food. Migration is moving from one place to another in groups. Instincts are natural behaviors that some animals are born with they need in order to survive in their environments. These behaviors are not learned but are instinctive, such as a beaver building a dam or a spider spinning a web. Physical adaptation involves the use of mimicry and camouflage. Mimicry occurs when a species has features similar to another species. Either one or both are protected when a third species cannot tell them apart. Camouflage is the means by which animals escape the notice of predators, usually because of a resemblance to their surroundings using coloration or outer coverage patterns. Habitats are where plants and animals live. They can live in dry-land, which includes desert, grassland, rainforest, and forest or wet-land, which includes ocean, river, stream, swamp, marsh, and pond.