Transcript Camouflage
Adaptations Introduction • Watch this video for an introduction to adaptations • Animals have structural/physical and behavioral adaptations – Structural – body parts – Behavioral – what the animal does • “Animals depend on their physical features to help them obtain food, keep safe, build homes, withstand weather, and attract mates.” Examples of Structural Adaptations • • • • • Shape of bird’s beak Number and arrangement of fingers or toes Color of fur Thickness of fur Shape of nose, ears, or feet Camels • Read about the camel’s adaptations • Learn: – About the purpose of a camel’s eyelashes – What’s special about the camel’s nose – How the camel has adapted for food, water, and environment Lions • Read about the lion • How has the lion adapted for protection, feeding, and their environment? Penguins • Read about the Penguin • How does the penguin move and keep warm? Frogs • Read about frogs • How has a frog adapted to get and eat his food? Saguaro Cactus • Read about the Saguaro Cactus • How has it adapted to survive in it’s environment? Camouflage What is Camouflage? • adaptation “increases an animal’s chances of survival” • camouflage – “an animal’s ability to hide itself from predator and prey” • camouflage includes blending in and disguising Concealing Animal Colors • Helps animals find food and avoid being attacked or eaten • An “animal’s environment is often the most important factor in what the camouflage looks like” • Camouflage matches the background of the environment. Blending into the Background Tartan hawkfish – Papua New Guinea Examples of Blending In • “Brownish ‘earth tone’ colors” to blend in with trees and soil – Deer, squirrels, wild turkey • “Grayish-blue coloring” to blend in with underwater color – Sharks, dolphins, stingrays Blending In Cryptic frog Animals Who Can Change Their Color • Biochromes – animals produce colors chemically – absorbing some light and reflecting others • Microscopic Physical Structures – refract and scatter light – Polar bears “have black skin but appear white because they have translucent hairs” • Some Animals can do both Advantages of Camouflage • Animals with better camouflage are more likely to survive • Animals that survive will reproduce and pass their coloring on to their offspring • Natural selection – how the colors develop slowly over generations based on the colors of the animals that have survived • Watch this video clip for a camouflage overview Color and Texture • Texture of an animal’s fur, scales, feathers, or exoskeleton can help animal blend in • Squirrels – rough fur looks like tree bark • Insects – smooth exoskeleton looks like leaves The feathers on the snowy owl look fluffy like the snow. Adaptive Camouflage • Animals who can change color to match their surroundings • Changing seasons changes the surroundings – Spring and summer – green and brown – Winter and fall – brown or white • Being the same color year-round can be dangerous Adaptive Camouflage • Changes in the environment can cause the animal to change color for the season like a tree’s leave change color • Animals can also change their color by contracting or relaxing muscles – Cuttlefish – Watch this video to hear an explanation of the chromataphors and reflective cells and this video to see them change! – Chameleons Chamaeleo pardalis Madagascar Animal Disguises • Spots, stripes, patches, etc. • Patterns may look similar to the environment – Vertical stripes – grass • Disruption coloration – An outline that doesn’t match the shape of the animal so the predator doesn’t know exactly where the animal is – Zebras – stripes make them look like one big animal, so the predator can’t target one – Fish swimming in schools look like one large fish – Walking Stick looks like a stick Walking Stick Can you see the katydid? Mimicry • Other animals use mimicry also • Mimicry is when an animal looks like something else • Some animals look like other animals • Some animals have colors that look like poisonous animals Can you see the gecko? Which one is the insect? This hawk moth caterpillar looks like a much more dangerous animal. Which two are bumblebees with stingers and which two are harmless Robber flies? Not only do Robber flies look like bumblebees, but they also make a sound similar to them! This South African speckled emperor moth has spots that look like a larger animal’s eyes. Looking like the poisonous Coral Snake helps protect the Scarlet King Snake. Resources • • • • • • • • • • http://www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/all-about-animals/animalcamouflage.htm http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/ecology-and-the-environment/animal-camouflagepictures.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x-8v1mxpR0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__XA6B41SQQ http://thenaturalhistorian.com/2012/03/19/good-creation-mimicry-design-and-thecreationists-dilemma/ http://www.alleghany.k12.va.us/animal%20adaptation%20webpage/animal_mimicry.ht m http://malcolmpollack.com/2006/08/08/designer-genes/ http://oakdome.com/k5/lesson-plans/powerpoint/animal-camouflage-pictures-andinformation.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds5qIn2TISg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEDxThDINgQ&feature=related Resources • • • • • http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep1.htm http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/adaptation.htm http://www.casarioblanco.com/poison-dart-frog.html http://fohn.net/camel-pictures-facts/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion