Amazing Animal Adaptations

An adaptation is a special feature or behaviour that helps an animal survive where it lives. Adaptations are not chosen by an animal during its life — instead, they build up slowly over many, many generations. Animals that happen to be born with helpful features are more likely to survive and have babies, and they pass those features on. This gradual change over long stretches of time is called evolution.

Scientists sort adaptations into two main kinds. Physical adaptations are features of the body, such as a thick coat of fur, sharp claws, or webbed feet. Behavioural adaptations are special things an animal does, such as hibernating through winter, hunting at night, or migrating to warmer lands. Both kinds work together to keep an animal alive.

One of the cleverest physical adaptations is camouflage — colours and patterns that help an animal blend into its surroundings so predators or prey cannot spot it. A stick insect looks exactly like a twig, an Arctic hare turns white in winter to vanish against the snow, and a flatfish can change its skin pattern to match the seabed beneath it.

Adaptations often match an animal precisely to the food it eats. A beak is a brilliant example. A sharp, hooked beak lets an eagle tear flesh, a long, thin beak lets a hummingbird sip nectar deep inside a flower, a strong, cone-shaped beak lets a finch crack tough seeds, and a wide, flat beak lets a duck scoop and filter food from water. The same is true of teeth: lions have long, pointed fangs for gripping meat, while cows have broad, flat teeth for grinding grass.

Some animals live in such extreme places that their adaptations seem almost magical. Camels close their nostrils and have a third, see-through eyelid to keep out blowing sand. Desert kangaroo rats can live their whole lives without ever drinking, getting all the water they need from the seeds they eat. Deep-sea fish make their own light in the pitch-black ocean. Each of these is a perfect answer to the challenges of a particular habitat.