Adaptations and Their Habitats

A living thing can survive in a particular habitat, if its body is suited (or adapted) to the conditions or environment of that habitat. Plants and animals develop special characteristics or features in their body in order to survive in their habitat (or surroundings). The presence of specific body features (or certain habits) which enable a plant or an animal to live in a particular habitat is called adaptation.

There are some changes that can happen in an organism over a short period of time which help them to adjust to some changes in their surroundings. For instance, if we live in the plains and suddenly go to high mountain regions, we may experience difficulty in breathing and doing physical exercise for some days. We need to breathe faster when we are on high mountains as there is lower levels of oxygen in air. After some days, our body adjusts to the changed conditions on the high mountain. Such small changes that take place in the body of a single organism over short periods, to overcome small problems due to changes in the surroundings, are called acclimatisation. These changes are different from the adaptations that take place over thousands of years.

Some terrestrial habitats and their adapatations 

Some of the important terrestrial habitats are:–

1. Deserts 2. Polar regions 3. Grasslands 4. Tropical rainforest

1.0Deserts

A water scarce area of land covered with sand and having little or no vegetation (plants etc.) is called a desert.

Deserts receive less than 25 cm of rain each year and support little plant life. Some desert areas receive no rain for long time. When rain does come, it quickly drains away. Any water that remains on the ground evaporates very fast. The plants and animals in deserts have developed special features for surviving in hot and dry areas of desert.

Adaptations in desert animals

Kangaroo rat never needs to drink water. They get all the moisture they need from the breakdown of food during digestion.

During the daytime, the desert rats and snakes dig deep burrows in the sand and stay in them when it is very hot. The burrows stay cool during the day and hence protect these animals from the sun’s heat as well as loss of water from their body. The desert rats and desert snakes come out of the burrows only during cool night in search of the food. 

Fennec is also adapted to live in desert. It adapts to the desert climate with the help of its long ears and its nocturnal nature.

Camel lives in hot desert where water is scarce. The body structure of a camel helps it to survive in desert conditions. Camel is adapted to live in a desert because of its following special features-

(i) A camel has large and flat feet which help it to walk easily on soft sand (by preventing it from sinking into soft sand).

(ii) A camel’s body is adapted to save water in the dry desert as follows– A camel passes small amount of urine ; its dung is dry and it rarely sweat. 

(iii) The camel has long legs which help to keep its body away from the hot sand in the desert.

(iv) A camel can drink large amount of water (when it is available) and store it in the body.

(v) A camel’s hump has ‘fat’ ‘stored in it. In case of emergency, a camel can break down stored fat to obtain water.

Adaptations in desert plants 

Some of the adaptations which help the desert plants to survive in hot and dry environment of a desert are as follows :

(i) Many desert plants have long roots which go deep into the soil for absorbing water.

(ii) The stems of desert plants are modified to perform the function of leaves. Thus, in desert plants photosynthesis is usually carried out by their green stem. They are also covered with a thick waxy layer (called cuticle) which prevents the loss of water from it.

(iii) The leaves in desert plants are either absent, very small or present in the form of spines (thorns). This helps in reducing the loss of water from the leaves through transpiration.

2.0 The Polar regions - Extremely cold climate

As the name suggests, polar regions are situated near the poles, i.e., north pole and south pole.

The polar regions remain covered with snow and the climate is very cold for most part of the year. 

In winters, the temperature can be as low as –37°C. For six months in a year, the sun does not set while for the other six months, the sun does not rise.

In a map, polar regions are marked by blue and tropical regions are marked by red.

Some countries of the polar region

Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Alaska in USA and Siberia (Russia). Let us see how the animals like polar bears and penguins living in polar regions have developed adaptations for their survival.

Adaptations in polar bear 

(i) Polar bears and many other animals, such as seals, whales and walrus have a thick layer of fat called blubber.

Blubber is a thick layer of fat present under the skin of some animals to keep their bodies warm and insulated from the cold.

(ii) The two thick layers of white fur in the polar bear is a good insulation from cold and also helps it to camouflage i.e. the animal cannot be easily seen in the snowy white background from a distance. Skin of polar bear under the fur is black in colour which provides it with better heat absorbing capacity.

(iii) It can close its nostrils while swimming and can remain under water for long periods.

(iv) It has a strong sense of smell. This adaptation helps it to locate its prey for food from a distance.

(v) It has long curved and sharp claws on its paws. This provides good grip and helps the animal to walk on ice.

(vi) It has wide and large paws which helps it to walk easily on snow. Such paws also help the animal to swim well.

(vii) Female polar bears make big dens in the snow where they might hibernate, i.e., remain inactive or dormant, during the worst part of the winter. This allows them to survive without food or water during the cold winter season. The fat stored in the body get converted into energy for body to function during hibernation. The cubs are born in the den.

Adaptations in Penguin

(i) Like the polar bear, penguin is also white. The animal, therefore, merges well with the white background of snow.

(ii) It also has a feathery coat, thick skin as well as a layer of fat under the feathery coat. The coat covers the body right down to its legs. The coat and the layer of fat protects it from cold helping to keep the body warm.

(iii) They huddle together to keep themselves warm. 

(iv) The feet have webs, which help them to swim. Penguins are good swimmers.

(v) The body is streamlined which helps them in swimming.

(vi) They have almond shaped gland above the eyes that help to filter out excess salt.

Other animals living in the polar regions are reindeers, foxes, seals, musk oxen, whales, many types of fishes and birds. While fish can remain under cold water for long, birds must remain warm to survive. They move (or migrate) to warmer regions when winter sets in. They come back after the winter is over.

3.0Grasslands

Temperate and tropical regions that receive between 26 cm and 76 cm of precipitation each year and are dominated by grasses are called grasslands. 

The adaptations in lion and deer to the forest habitat are described below -

Adaptations in Lion

(i) The lion has eyes in front of its head which enable it to have a correct idea of the location of its prey. This helps it in catching the prey.

(ii) The lion is light brown in colour. The light brown colour helps the lion to hide in dry grassland (without being noticed) when it hunts for prey.

(iii) The lion has long, strong and sharp claws in its front legs to catch its prey. The lion can withdraw the claws inside the toes so that they do not become worn out and blunt when it walks.

Adaptations in Deer

The deer is an herbivorous animal which eats only the plant material as food. The deer is adapted to the forest habitat in the following ways:

(i) The deer has strong teeth for chewing hard plant stems of the forest.

(ii) The deer has big ears. The big ears help the deer to hear the movements of predators very easily.

(iii) The deer has eyes on the sides of its head which enables it to see in all directions at the same time. The all round vision of deer helps it to see its predator animals like lion (which kill it), in all the area around it.

(iv) The deer has brown colour. The brown colour of deer helps it to hide in dry grasslands without being noticed by lion etc.

(v) The speed of deer helps it to run away from the predators (like lion) which try to catch it.

4.0Tropical Rainforest

Tropical rainforests are located around the equator and the climate is, therefore, hotter. Hot and humid climate are there. This is because the sun's rays are more concentrated near the equator. Tropical rainforest is found in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. These regions are characterised by -

(i) Receive plenty of rainfall throughout the year and this makes the climate humid as well.

(ii) During hot summers, the temperature may even be higher than 40°C.

(iii) Lengths of the day and night are almost equal throughout the year.

Tropical rainforests are rich in the variety of plant and animal life. The animals include monkeys, apes, gorillas, snakes, lizards, tropical birds, bats, lions, tigers, elephants, leopards and a variety of fish in the rivers.

As the number of animals living in a tropical rainforest is very large, animals tend to compete with each other for shelter and food. To overcome this competition, animals have developed various adaptations.

Adaptations for living spaces

Animals not only live on the forest floor, but many animals also develop adaptations to live on the trees such animals are called arboreal. For example –

(i) Red-eyed frog has developed sticky pads in its feet to help it climb on trees on which it lives.

(ii) Monkeys have long tails which provide a means of holding tree branches. 

(iii) The lion-tailed macaque (also called Beard ape) lives in the rainforest of Western Ghats. Its most outstanding feature is the silver-white mane which surrounds the head from the cheeks down to its chin. It is a good climber and spends a major part of its life on the tree. It feeds mainly on fruits. It also eats seeds, young leaves, stems, flowers and buds. This beard ape also searches for insects under the bark of the trees. Since, it is able to get sufficient food on the trees, it rarely comes down on the ground.

(iv) Chameleon has long sticky tongue and prehensile tail.

Adaptations for food

Some animals have developed adaptations to obtain food which cannot be easily procured by other animals. For example, bird Toucan possesses a large, long beak. The long beak helps the bird to reach the fruits on such branches which are too weak to support the weight of the bird. The bird, thus, can reach its food even without sitting on the weak branch.

Adaptations For Protection From Predators:

Many animals like big cats (lions and tigers) have sensitive hearing, sharp eyesight and thick skin. In some cases, animals have skin colour which blends with the surroundings. This is called camouflage. This helps the animals to protect themselves from predators.

5.0Adaptations

(i) It has a big trunk which is used for picking up food and as a nose. It has a strong sense of smell.

(ii) Its tusks are modified teeth which can tear the branches of trees on which an elephant feed. In a forest, therefore, an elephant does not face the problem of getting large quantities of food.

(iii) It can hear even very feeble sounds because of the large ears. They also help the elephant to keep cool in the hot and humid climate of the rain forest.

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