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Roar! Meet the Big Cats! | Animal Science for Kids

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Videos for Children | Chameleon for Kids (Educational Video)

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Worms Are Wonderful | Amazing Animals | Backyard Science | SciShow Kids

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Meat-Eating Plants | Botany for Kids | SciShow Kids

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How Animals Prepare for Winter and Survive the Cold

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"Claws!" Animal Adaptations & Exceptions

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The Crocodile | Educational Video for Kids.

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*Pause the video to read the facts*

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Tigers for Kids: Learn All About Tigers - FreeSchool

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Interesting Fact About Bird | Why Do Birds Have Beaks ?

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Why Do birds have beaks or lips ? Interesting fact about bird. Actually, birds evolved beaks to help reduce their weight. It is important for a flying creature to be light, and a beak weighs less than a mouth full of teeth. Watch Trick Question & Answer also Questions Videos for Kids.

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The beak, bill, or rostrum is used for eating and for preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young. The terms beak and rostrum are also used to refer to a similar mouth part in some dicynodonts, Ornithischians, cephalopods, cetaceans, billfishes, pufferfishes, turtles, Anuran tadpoles and sirens.

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Scroll down and type the animals/plants you are looking for into the search bar!

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Watch for free your favorite PBS KIDS shows like Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Odd Squad, and Sesame Street.

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Adaptation of plant and animal species for kids K-6, including why species must adapt to habitat in order to survive.

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Explore different types of animal features and behaviors that can help or hinder survival in a particular habitat.

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By Stuart Thornton

Saturday, October 30, 2010

It's early November, and Pacific Grove is preparing for thousands of visitors.

Calling itself "Butterfly Town, USA," the small community on California's Monterey Peninsula has already held its annual Butterfly Parade, where local schoolchildren dress up like the insect. Currently, past a sign announcing "Caution: Butterfly Zone" and adjacent to the Butterfly Grove Inn, the Monarch Grove Sanctuary is hosting approximately 1,000 monarch butterflies that have arrived early to spend their winter in this 2.4-acre site.

A volunteer butterfly docent for the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Jack Beigle helps human visitors spot the monarchs clustered on a stand of nearby eucalyptus trees. "They look like dead leaves in a U-shape," he says, as he points a spotting scope towards the trees. "They are all butterflies."

He's right. Above the tree trunks is a congregation of what at first appear to be clumps of dead leaves. But then a breeze causes the monarch butterflies to flutter their wings-revealing a blast of bright orange color.

Nearby, several butterflies float up into the sky. "We have a few flying," Beigle says. "They can't fly if their temperature gets below 55 degrees."

Warmer winter temperatures bring monarch butterflies to almost 200 overwintering sites on the California coast, including Pacific Grove's Monarch Grove Sanctuary, Santa Cruz's Natural Bridges State Park, and the state's largest site for vacationing butterflies, the Pismo Beach Monarch Grove. The butterflies will stay along the coast from November through February.

As brightly colored monarchs float from the sky like confetti, Beigle explains the insects' amazing journey. The monarch butterflies have chosen this small swath of land in Pacific Grove for its mix of moderate temperature, humidity, and shelter from the wind.

Beigle says that the butterflies have traveled to Pacific Grove from 100 to 1,000 miles north and east of Pacific Grove. Most monarchs fly to the coast from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains on the border between California and Nevada. In early spring, the butterflies will migrate back to their cooler homes in the Sierra Nevada.

Beigle lists a few facts about the migrating monarch that elicit gasps from the small crowd of people gathered around him. He notes that some monarchs have been clocked flying at 15 miles per hour in still air. They also have stamina: "Two hundred miles in a day is common," he says. "It depends on the wind."

Monarchs are also high fliers. "Pilots have even reported seeing them at 10,000 feet," he says.

While the migration of North America's west coast population of monarch butterflies is impressive, it's the eastern population of the species that achieves one of nature's greatest feats. (The two monarch populations are separated by the Rocky Mountains.)

The eastern population journeys all the way from the northeast corner of the United States and Canada to a single location in central Mexico's Michoacán state. The migration for the insect can be up to 3,000 miles.

Migration Mystery

One aspect of the monarch butterfly's migration that has long puzzled scientists is how the tiny insects navigate such extended journeys. A neurobiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Dr. Steven Reppert, has been researching the monarch butterfly's migration for years.

Reppert believes the insects use the sun, or rays of the sun, to determine their location. Specific chemical proteins in the butterfly's brain help it to use the sun as a compass. Monarchs can interpret the sun's position in the sky to help them fly from the northern United States, through Texas, and into Michoacán.

University of Minnesota professor Karen Oberhauser has studied the monarch butterfly for 25 years. Oberhauser is still amazed that an animal the weight of a single paper clip can complete such a long journey.

"I think the most impressive thing is that something that size can fly that far and find a specific spot in the mountains of Mexico, leaving this large, large area and congregating in this very small area," she says.

Oberhauser is concerned about obstacles to the migrating monarch butterfly. "Probably the worst danger they can encounter is a lack of habitat, because they need to eat while they are migrating," she says.

Monarchs' favorite food is milkweed, which many farmers and homeowners consider a pest. "If all [the butterflies] are going over is agriculture fields and cities and suburbs with lawns, they are not going to find anything to eat. Probably the greatest cause of mortality during the migration is starving to death."

The eastern population of the monarch butterfly not only travels farther than the western population, more butterflies make the trip. According to Oberhauser, an estimated half a billion monarchs spend the winter in central Mexico.

"All of the butterflies in all of the overwintering sites along the coast of California are many, many fewer than the butterflies in the Mexican overwintering sites," Oberhauser says.

Back in Pacific Grove, Beigle impresses a small crowd with more information about the western monarch butterfly migration while being sure to mention the even larger journey occurring on the other side of the Rocky Mountains.

"We feel good when we get 40,000 to 50,000 butterflies here," he says. "They get millions down in Mexico."

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By Stuart Thornton Saturday, October 30, 2010 It's early November, and Pacific Grove is preparing for thousands of visitors. Calling itself "Butterfly Town, USA," the small community on California's Monterey Peninsula has already held its annual Butterfly Parade, where local schoolchildren dress up like the insect.

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Many, though not all animals, that are poisonous are also very brightly coloured. This is nature's way of warning others away since there is no point in being poisonous if they have to take a bite out of you to find out. Some non-toxic animals mimic the colours of poisonous animals as a mechanism to avoid predation as well.

Poisonous vs. Venomous

There is actually a difference between being poisonous and being venomous. The latter are animals that inject their poison into their prey through fangs, claws or a stinger. Poisonous animals have secretions or parts of their body that are poisonous to anything that touches or eats them. They tend to use it more defensively whereas venomous animals tend to use it to capture prey although it can also be used in defense situations too.

Venomous Animals

The most well known venomous animals are probably snakes. There are poisonous snakes on most continents in the world with Australia have more than its fair share. The most land poisonous snake in the world is Australia's Inland Taipan. It can inject enough poison to kill 100 people in a single bite, making it 400 times more venomous than a common cobra. Thankfully, it is a fairly shy animal that tends to avoid confrontation. The Black Mamba is a different story, often reacting aggressively with more than sufficient poison to kill someone unless antivenin is received in time.

Snakes are certainly not the only venomous animals though. Many invertebrates including spiders, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes, jellyfish, octopi, and even snails are quite capable of delivering a significant, and sometimes deadly, amount of toxin. The cone snail has a harpoon like projection that it uses to capture and kill prey. Needless to say, people are not common snail prey however, if you pick one up and get stung it can be deadly. The box jellyfish has been responsible for thousands of deaths over the years.

Few mammals are venomous. The duck-billed platypus is one of the exceptions, and yes, it too lives in Australia. The platypus male has large spurs on his legs. Although his toxin is not deadly to humans, it can kill many other species.

Poisonous Animals

The most poisonous vertebrate is the poison dart frog. The secretions on his skin are capable of killing 10 people. That doesn't sound like much until you realize he is all of two inches long. Two micrograms of the toxin is sufficient to kill an adult person. The second most poisonous vertebrate is the puffer fish. For reasons which elude more sensible people, some people consider eating puffer fish a delicacy. Improperly prepared, it is a deadly delicacy with no known cure.

There are a number of vertebrates with mild poisons that are likely to do nothing worse than make you ill if you come into contact with them. These include many species of fish and a few bird species. Many invertebrates are poisonous. This is a very common way to avoid predation in both larval and adult insects, particularly among butterflies and moths.

Many completely unrelated species have developed mechanisms to either inject their prey with poison or have developed poisonous aspects to their physiology to reduce the risk of predation. Some of these mechanisms are more than capable of killing a person.

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Poisonous and Venomous Animals - A defense mechanism or a way to subduing prey

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Many animals are poisonous or venomous. It can be a defense mechanism to prevent predation or it can be a way to subduing prey. Many, though not all animals, that are poisonous are also very brightly coloured.

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Cheetahs, description and information and adaptations of the cheetah, Cheetah facts

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There are certain natural history facts that seem to be common knowledge. The elephant is the largest land animal, and most everyone seems to know that the fastest running animal on the planet is the cheetah. Cheetahs are built for speed.

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It's easy for humans to put on more layers or go inside to stay warm in the winter, but how have animals evolved to handle the cold and snow?

December 10, 2015 - Author: Melissa Elischer , Michigan State University Extension

Arctic foxes adapt to winter by growing a thicker, white coat that better insulates them and serves as camouflage.

As temperatures drop, the days grow shorter and perhaps even the snow begins to fall, humans have a multitude of ways to stay warm. We can put on more layers of clothing or a big coat - hats, gloves and scarves can cover areas of skin that may be more exposed to the elements - or we can seek shelter in a warm building. These actions help keep humans safe and healthy during a season that can post varying health risks because of low temperatures. Most animals cannot seek out these same methods of keeping warm and thriving in winter, but they have evolved amazing adaptions to survive through frigid temperatures. Michigan State University Extension explores some of the ways animals cope with winter weather.

According to the National Park Service, there are three major strategies for animals, as well as insects and plants, to survive through cold temperatures: migration, hibernation and resistance (tolerance). Let's explore each of these in more detail.

Migration

Migration is the movement of a group of animals from one location to another, typically in order to change habitats or living environment. We might often think of birds "flying south" for the winter, but migration can be much more than that. It might involve travel east and west, changes in altitudes up or down a mountain, or even a round trip to multiple locations at different times. The length of time will vary based on the distance traveled. It could take several hours to days or even weeks for animals or insects to complete their journey.

Many factors may impact when the animals "know" it is time to move, including the length of daylight hours, changes in available food and how much energy it takes to stay warm. Examples of migratory animals are Clark's Nutcracker, elk and mule deer, all found in Glacier National Park in Montana. All three of these animals live high in the mountains during summer, but travel to the mountain base in winter for better access to food and milder weather conditions.

Although migration might seem like a very good option to avoid winters, it places a great deal of stress on animals because it takes so much energy to travel and once they arrive, there is still competition for resources, like food and shelter, with native species.

Hibernation

Hibernation is the second strategy to surviving cold temperatures. Hibernation is long-term dormancy, or inactivity, while "torpor" is the term to describe short-term inactivity. The definition of hibernation from National Park Service's " Winter Ecology Teacher's Guide " is "...a physical state where an animal's body function slows down in order to conserve energy through a season of no food and water, and cold temperatures." This slower body function is characterized by a decrease in body temperature and reduced respiration, or breathing. The animal will generally curl up into a tight ball to help keep warm, body temperature drops, and respiration and heart rate slow down. These actions reduce the amount of energy the animal must expend to stay alive so it's able to live off of fat reserves it has developed instead of constantly having to seek out food.

Hibernation strategies exist on a continuum from "true hibernators" to a "deep sleep" and finally an "occasional sleep." Examples of true hibernators are Columbian ground squirrels and marmots, both of which experience an extreme body temperature drop (90 degrees Fahrenheit normally versus 39 F while hibernating) and very slow respiration (a breath every four to six minutes). Bears, on the other hand, are in the deep sleep category because they do not experience the extreme body temperature drop; instead, they grow a thick hair coat before winter arrives. Raccoons and gray squirrels fall into the occasional sleep category because they generally stay active during the winter except for extremely frigid temperatures.

Resistance

The final evolutionary adaptation is resistance or tolerance of the cold. There are many, many ways this adaption has evolved in different species. Animals that live in cold climates tend to be larger so their body mass-to-surface ratio is higher. For example, cold weather bears like polar bears are larger than bears found in tropical areas like sun bears. Birds will fluff out their feathers to keep a layer of air around their bodies, huddle together to keep warm or roost in tree cavities.

Tiny ears and tails are another adaption that animals have, like the pika, a relative of the rabbit. Small appendages that are close to the body stay warm and resist frostbite compared to having large ears or long tails. Thicker coats of either fur or hair grow in to act as an additional layer of insulation. Mountain goats have very heavy wool undercoats and hollow hairs that keep air trapped close to the body, keeping the cold and wetness out. Similar to mountain goats, moose also grow a coat with hallow hairs to keep them warm.

Shorter daylight hours help to trigger responses of the "master gland" of the body, the hypothalamus, to change behavior or appearance to prepare for the cold. Some animals will increase their food intake to build up fat reserves, allowing them to survive with a decreased food supply. Other animals, such as beavers or red squirrels, create a food cache, meaning they collect extra food when it's available, store it and then have a supply for the winter.

Snowshoe hares, weasels arctic foxes and ptarmigans all change color as winter approaches. Their fur or feathers change from brown to white, which provides them two major advantages: The new fur or feathers are thicker and act as a better insulator than the brown summer coat, and the color change allows these animals to be camouflaged in the snow to avoid predators and hunt prey.

For more information on winter adaptations, check out the videos and information from the National Park Service.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

Tags: animal science, fisheries & wildlife, msu extension, natural resources

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It's easy for humans to put on more layers or go inside to stay warm in the winter, but how have animals evolved to handle the cold and snow? December 10, 2015 - Author: Melissa Elischer , Michigan State University Extension As temperatures drop, the days grow shorter and perhaps even the snow begins to fall, humans have a multitude of ways to stay warm.

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Changing colors and adapting to a certain environment is an art displayed by animals. Some animals are blessed with this unique power to change colors according to the surrounding in order to protect themselves from predators or for the sake of catching their prey.

Protective Adaptation of Animals is something natural. Allah Almighty has given this power to certain animals that can change their colors to help them save themselves from predators or for catching their prey. The color changing phenomenon has certain reasons such as for protection, mating and recognition of other family members. Animal adaptation or camouflaging to match their environment is a surviving technique for animals worldwide.

Check out which animals are gifted with this amazing talent:

Chameleon

On the top of the list of protective adaptation of animals is a chameleon. It is the most amazing animal that changes colors as to wherever they go. They are able to alter their colors and blend with nature. All the species of chameleon can shift to any colors. They are able to turn pink, red, orange, blue, green, and yellow, black, brown; or they are able to combine colors depending on where the environment is. All species of animals that change colors are mainly for defense or offense but the chameleon's purpose is to really change into different colors in order to communicate with other species of and make themselves more attractive to mates.

Arctic Fox

The Arctic fox thick, double-layered coat is among its most effective protective adaptation of animals, because of its insulating properties and its ability to change color according to the season; if it is summer the coat's color is bluish gray and if it is winter it turns to solid white. It aids them in hunting preys and to camouflage itself from hungry predators.

Golden Tortoise Beetle

The Golden Tortoise Beetle can change its color from a shiny gold color to a dull red with ladybug-spots. They are able to achieve this kind of alteration by reflecting the outer shell which is essential like tinting a window and through microscope valves it alters the moisture level under the shell.

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protective adaptation of animals - science & technology - science & technology articles

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science & technology articles and columns

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Changing colors and adapting to a certain environment is an art displayed by animals. Some animals are blessed with this unique power to change colors according to the surrounding in order to protect themselves from predators or for the sake of catching their prey. Protective Adaptation of Animals is something natural.

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Dart Frog

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Camouflage, also called cryptic coloration, is a defense or tactic that organisms use to disguise their appearance, usually to blend in with their surroundings. Organisms use camouflage to mask their location, identity, and movement. This allows prey to avoid predators, and for predators to sneak up on prey.

A species' camouflage depends on several factors. The physical characteristics of the organism are important. Animals with fur rely on different camouflage tactics than those with feathers or , for instance. Feathers and scales can be shed and changed fairly regularly and quickly. Fur, on the other hand, can take weeks or even months to grow in. Animals with fur are more often camouflaged by season. The arctic fox, for example, has a white coat in the winter, while its summer coat is brown.

The behavior of a species is also important. Animals that live in groups differ from those that are solitary. The stripes on a zebra, for instance, make it stand out. However, zebras are social animals, meaning they live and migrate in large groups called herds. When clustered together, it is nearly impossible to tell one zebra from another, making it difficult for predators such as lions to stalk an individual animal.

A species' camouflage is also influenced by the behavior or characteristics of its predators. If the predator is color-blind, for example, the prey species will not need to match the color of its surroundings. Lions, the main predator of zebras, are color-blind. Zebras' black-and-white camouflage does not need to blend in to their habitat, the golden savanna of central Africa.

Camouflage Tactics

Environmental and behavioral factors cause species to employ a wide variety of camouflage tactics. Some of these tactics, such as background matching and disruptive coloration, are forms of mimicry. Mimicry is when one organism looks or acts like an object or another organism.

Background matching is perhaps the most common camouflage tactic. In background matching, a species conceals itself by resembling its surroundings in coloration, form, or movement. In its simplest form, animals such as deer and squirrels resemble the "earth tones" of their surroundings. Fish such as flounder almost exactly match their speckled seafloor habitats.

More complex forms of background matching include the camouflage of the walking stick and walking leaf. These two insects, both native to southeast Asia, look and act like their namesakes. Patterns on the edge of the walking leaf's body resemble bite marks left by caterpillars in leaves. The insect even sways from side to side as it walks, to better mimic the swaying of a leaf in the breeze.

Another camouflage tactic is disruptive coloration. In disruptive coloration, the identity and location of a species may be disguised through a coloration pattern. This form of visual disruption causes predators to misidentify what they are looking at. Many butterflies have large, circular patterns on the upper part of their wings. These patterns, called eyespots, resemble the eyes of animals much larger than the butterfly, such as owls. Eyespots may confuse predators such as birds and misdirect them from the soft, vulnerable part of the butterfly's body.

Other species use coloration tactics that highlight rather than hide their identity. This type of camouflage is called warning coloration or aposematism. Warning coloration makes predators aware of the organism's toxic or dangerous characteristics. Species that demonstrate warning coloration include the larva and adult stages of the monarch butterfly. The monarch caterpillar is brightly striped with yellow, black, and white. The monarch butterfly is patterned with orange, black, and white. Monarchs eat milkweed, which is a poison to many birds. Monarchs retain the poison in their bodies. The milkweed toxin is not deadly, but the bird will vomit. The bright coloring warns predator birds that an upset stomach is probably not worth a monarch meal.

Another animal that uses aposematism is the deadly coral snake, whose brightly colored rings alert other species to its toxic venom. The coral snake's warning coloration is so well known in the animal kingdom that other, non-threatening species mimic it in order to camouflage their true identities. The harmless scarlet king snake has the same black, yellow, and red striped pattern as the coral snake. The scarlet king snake is camouflaged as a coral snake.

Countershading is a form of camouflage in which the top of an animal's body is darker in color, while its underside is lighter. Sharks use countershading. When seen from above, they blend in with the darker ocean water below. This makes it difficult for fishermen-and swimmers-to see them. When seen from below, they blend in with lighter surface water. This helps them hunt because prey species below may not see a shark until it's too late.

Countershading also helps because it changes the way shadows are created. Sunlight illuminates the top of an animal's body, casting its belly in shadow. When an animal is all one color, it will create a uniform shadow that makes the animal's shape easier to see. In countershading, however, the animal is darker where the sun would normally illuminate it, and lighter where it would normally be in shadow. This distorts the shadow and makes it harder for predators to see the animal's true shape.

Creating Camouflage

Animal species are able to camouflage themselves through two primary mechanisms: pigments and physical structures.

Some species have natural, microscopic pigments, known as biochromes, which absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. Species with biochromes actually appear to change colors. Many species of octopus have a variety of biochromes that allow them to change the color, pattern, and opacity of their skin.

Other species have microscopic physical structures that act like prisms, reflecting and scattering light to produce a color that is different from their skin. The polar bear, for instance, has black skin. Its translucent fur reflects the sunlight and snow of its habitat, making the bear appear white.

Camouflage can change with the environment. Many animals, such as the arctic fox, change their camouflage with the seasons. Octopuses camouflage themselves in response to a threat. Other species, such as nudibranchs-brightly colored, soft-bodied ocean "slugs"-can change their skin coloration by changing their diet.

Chameleons change colors in order to communicate. When a chameleon is threatened, it does not change color to blend in to its surroundings. It changes color to warn other chameleons that there is danger nearby.

Some forms of camouflage are not based on coloration. Some species attach or attract natural materials to their bodies in order to hide from prey and predators. Many varieties of desert spiders, for instance, live in burrows in the sandy ground. They attach sand to the upper part of their bodies in order to blend in with their habitat.

Other animals demonstrate olfactory camouflage, hiding from prey by "covering up" their smell or masking themselves in another species' smell. The California ground squirrel, for instance, chews up and spits out rattlesnake skin, then applies the paste to its tail. The ground squirrel smells somewhat like its main predator. The rattlesnake, which senses by smell and body heat, is confused and hesitant about attacking another venomous snake.

Fast Fact

Dressing for the Part
The dresser crab gets its name for a reason: The animal picks up pieces of coral and sponge with its claws and places them on the Velcro-like hairs that cover its body. When a predator, such as a blowfish, passes by, the dresser crab freezes, blending into the seafloor. The dresser crab adapts to its environment so well that even when placed in a fish tank full of human objects, such as lace and pearl necklaces, the creature will get "dressed up" for the occasion, appearing to be just another trinket at the bottom of the tank.

Fast Fact

Ghillie Suits
Ghillie suits are a type of camouflage used by the military and hunters to blend in to thick vegetation. In addition to patterns of contrasting green or khaki, ghillie suits feature elements of foliage from the area: twigs, leaves, and branches.

In Australia, ghillie suits are nicknamed "yowies," for their resemblance to the Yowie, a mythical creature similar to Bigfoot.

Fast Fact

Khaki Camouflage
Militaries did not use camouflage until the 17th and 18th centuries. Before then, military uniforms were brightly colored, in order to intimidate the enemy.

In the 1850s, the British Army suffered massive casualties in India. (Indians were fighting for their independence.) British leaders dyed their bright white uniforms a dull, sandy tan to blend in with the desert surroundings. They called these newly colored uniforms khakis, a Hindu word for "dust."

Fast Fact

Razzle Dazzle
Razzle Dazzle, or dazzle camouflage, was a tactic used by Allied forces during World War I and World War II. Large ships, such as aircraft carriers, were painted with bold, geometric patterns. Razzle Dazzle did not camouflage the so-called "dazzle ships," but made it difficult for opposing forces to judge the size and type of the vessel.

Fast Fact

Sneaky Snakes
The scarlet king snake is harmless, but its black, yellow, and red stripes mimic the stripes of the deadly coral snake. The only real difference between the two patterns is the order of the colors. The coral snakes pattern is red-yellow-black. The scarlet king snakes pattern is red-black-yellow.

A rhyme makes the distinction easy to remember.
Red on yellow kills a fellow,
Red on black wont hurt Jack.

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Camouflage, also called cryptic coloration, is a defense or tactic that organisms use to disguise their appearance, usually to blend in with their surroundings. Organisms use camouflage to mask their location, identity, and movement. This allows prey to avoid predators, and for predators to sneak up on prey.