Adaptations are special characteristics that help organisms to survive in their natural habitat. Painstakingly compiled these questions and answers from various preliminary papers sixth graders in Singapore attempted last month
Unique adaptations for survival for extreme low temperature with limited amount of food on land
A) reduce heat loss (thick fur, thick layer of fats, small ears)
- The layer of fat is a poor conductor of heat and slows down heat transfer from the body to the surroundings.
- The thick fur of the monkey traps air. Since air is a poor conductor of heat, the fur reduces heat loss from the body to the surroundings during the colder months. Plus, the thick fur is a poor conductor of heat, hence the animal loses heat slowly to the surroundings.
- During cold weather, the jackrabbit prefers to fold its ears close to its body. The folded position of the ears close to the body exposes a smaller surface area to the surrounding air. This reduces the rate of heat loss from the body to the surroundings.
- The small ears of the polar bear decrease the exposed surface area of the skin in contact with the cold surroundings. This allows it to reduce the rate of heat loss to the colder surroundings.
Unique adaptations for survival for extreme high temperatures with limited amount of food on land
A) increase heat loss (large ears)
- Ears standing straight on a hot day. The ears have more exposed surface area so it will lose heat faster on a hot day and keep cool so it can cope with the hot environment.
- African elephants have bigger ears/ Longer ears/Larger (exposed) surface area for ears. Increase the exposed surface area of the skin in contact with the hotter surroundings. This allows the body to lose heat to the surroundings faster.
- When the weather is hot, the jackrabbit is seen more often with its ears upright. Blood pumped into the ears are spread over a wider area to lose heat quickly when exposed to the surrounding air. The cooled blood is returned to the body in exchange for more blood to be cooled.
B) reduce heat gain (eg, long legs to be further away from the ground, inactive in the day)
- In the desert, the lizard runs across the hot sand by alternating its four legs on the hot sand. When viewed through the heat camera, the colours on the alternating legs are different. / The lizard lives in the desert and runs using two of its four legs with its tail lifted above the ground. This behaviour allows its tail to have less surface area in contact with the hot sand. Hence, less heat is transferred from the hot sand to the lizard.
- In the desert, the temperature in the day can reach as high as 50°C. As a result, animal X will be found in shallow burrows during the hottest parts of the day. It comes out only at night when the temperature is cooler.
- The temperature in the burrow is lower/ the burrow is a cooler spot/ less hot/ keep animals cooler [1] compared to the surface of the desert sand. OR Animals will be less exposed to the Sun/ does not come into direct contact with the sun's rays/ seek shade/ X will gain heat slower/ X gain less heat.
Adaptations for protection against predators
- A sloth looks like a bundle of dead leaves when huddled in the crook of a branch or hanging beneath it, so it isn’t easily spotted by its predators.
- A flounder is a fish that lives on the sand at the bottom of the sea. It lies flat on the ocean floor either on its right side or left side of the body. Both its eyes are located on the side of the body that is not in contact with the sand. The flounder camouflages with the ocean floor to avoid being spotted by prey or predators. With both eyes on one side, no sand enters the other eye, and it can see prey and predators clearly
- When Animal A looks like Animal B, the predators of Animal A might mistake it for poisonous Animal B and avoid eating it, thus increasing the chances of survival of Animal A.
- The feathers of the parrots are green in colour. The green feathers help them to camouflage/blend in with the leaves of the trees/surroundings so that predators will find it difficult to spot and eat them.
- The colour patterns warn predators to stay away and so the baby snakes are avoided and not eaten by predators.
- The hard, sharp spines protect the animals from predators.
- The brown body colour helps it camouflage / blend it with the surrounding and hide from its predators.
- Monitor lizards have brown skin and dark grey and black scales. This helps them camouflage with the surroundings in the swamp and not be spotted by their prey when they are hunting.
- Butterfly Y has brown patterns on its wings that resemble the tree bark. It also has a long proboscis to reach and suck out tree sap.(Brown patterns on its wings) to help camouflage against the tree bark and protect it from predators. (Long proboscis) to extend and reach out to obtain sap for food.
- The young of animal H lives in the river. It uses the stones in the river to build a hard ‘shell’ around its soft body part. ✅ The hard shell protects its soft body parts from injury and prevents predators from easily biting or harming it. ✅ The shell made of stones allows animal H to camouflage with its surroundings, making it harder for predators to spot.
- Animal (a turtle) is less able to escape from predators when there is excessive algae growth on its shell. There will be more friction between animal T and the water. This slows down animal T in water, so it is less able to escape from its predators.
- The monkey in the rainforest has a long tail that helps it balance better when running along the trees, thus helping it escape from its predators.
- Good sense of hearing and strong legs. It can hear predators easily as it has good hearing and escape quickly as its strong legs can help it run fast so it can escape from predators easily and increase its chance of survival as predators cannot catch it.
- Animal T and its young like to live near a river. The adult is a good swimmer and can stay in the water for a long time but the young is unable to swim. They face many predators in the rainforest. Explain how living near a river helps to protect the adult from its predators. ✅ The adult can submerge or stay in water to hide from predators. ✅ It can also swim across the river to escape from predators.
- Suggest two ways how the young animal T protects itself from its predators since it is unable to swim. ✅ The young has sensitive hearing, allowing it to detect sounds made by predators early. ✅ Its white stripes and spots provide camouflage, helping it blend into the environment and avoid being spotted by predators.
- Animal X lives on the floor of the sea. It picks up coconut shells and carries them to use. X can stay inside shell to hide from predator / can stay inside shell so will not be eaten/attacked by predator / can stay inside shell so will not be spotted by prey when hunting On the other hand, carrying the shells slows down animal X when it moves as it is harder to escape quickly from predator / harder to catch prey / uses more energy when moving
Adaptations for catching prey
- Animal K is a large animal and lives in the swampy part of a river. Eyes on top of its head. The animal can see its prey while the rest of its body stays hidden underwater. Body stays below water surface. The animal is less visible to its prey, making it easier to ambush them.
- The wings of bird Y are spread out when it is flying in the air, and it wil fold its wings when it dives into the water to catch its prey. When diving into the water, the folded wings create a streamlined body shape to allow it to dive quickly to reduce the chances of its prey escaping.
- Birds S hunt cooperatively in groups. They can dive into the sea water together to catch fish and other small marine animals. Hunting cooperatively in groups increases the chances for Bird to catch more prey for food
Adaptations for living deep underwater
- An organism lives deep in the ocean without light. It feeds on other animals. Its dark skin helps it to get food. The dark skin wil blend in / camouflage with the (dark) surroundings / ocean (1/2) so its prey wil not be able to se it (approaching). (1/2)
- The organism has large gills. Having large gills helps it to survive better when there is no light. As there is no light, no plants can grow there. [1/2] Thus there is no oxygen produced / little oxygen present. [1/2] The large gills has larger (exposed) surface area [1/2] which allows the organism to take in as much oxygen as possible/take in more/sufficient oxygen. [1]
Adaptations for finding food
- A flexible snout enables animal T to find food and feed on the leaves in the rainforest. ✅ Animal T can use its flexible snout to grasp or pluck leaves and berries to feed itself. ✅ The flexible snout also helps it sniff and locate food in the forest.
Adaptations for mating
- The number of nests built by bird B is not affected by the volume of noise in its habitat as it has other adaptations to attract its mates. Bird B has colourful feathers / performs mating dance/ makes mating calls