Populations in a particular environment that have adapted to living conditions in that specific area are therefore better able to meet their survival needs and are more likely to survive and reproduce offspring with those key survival traits.
Physical Adaptations
Physical adaptations are special body parts that help an organism survive in a particular environment.
Some Common Examples of Physical Adaptations:
Color
The color of many organisms helps them to blend into their environment typically to help them hunt for prey or hide from predators. The color of many organisms are also helpful to attract mates or in the case of plants attract pollinators. There are many other examples of how color can enhance an organism's ability to survive and reproduce.
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CamouflageCamouflage is an adaptation that allows animals to blend in with certain aspects of their environment making them hard to see.
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Sensory abilities
Sensory abilities include anything such as enhanced sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing. Many organisms have the ability to see, smell, taste, and feel far better than what humans are capable of in order to help them survive in their environment. Below are just a few examples:
Sight
The eagle eye is among the strongest in the animal kingdom, with an eyesight estimated at 4 to 8 times stronger than that of the average human. In addition to eagles, birds such as hawks, falcons, and robins have extraordinary vision too which enable them to gather their prey easily. |
Smell
Scientists guess the dog's sense of smell is somewhere between 10,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive than ours. One of the reasons a dog has such better smelling ability than us is the number of scent receptors. For every scent receptor a human has, a dog has about 50. |
Hearing
A well-known trait of the bat is the exceptional hearing they have. Bats have notoriously bad eyesight, being blind for the most part; therefore, they rely heavy on their hearing. Using echolocation, a bat can squeak during flight and navigate their way to where they need to be. The sound vibrations they emit through squeaking bounces off any nearby surfaces back to the bat, allowing them to know where the surface is. Recently, however moths...yes, moths! have been named as having the best hearing in the world. (check out this article to learn more about how elephants communicate) |
Mimicry Mimicry is a special type of physical adaptation that organisms use to resemble (look alike) an animal, plant (or part of one), or even objects to avoid or deter predators. Mimicry, or the resemblance of one plant or animal to another, is often found in the insect world, but there are also examples in the animal and plant world too.
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Check out this video to see one of the most amazing examples of mimicry on the planet!
Video Guide:
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Topic Tips
- Physical adaptations are special body parts that help an organism survive in an environment.