All organisms have adaptations that help them survive and thrive. Some adaptations are structural. Structural adaptations are physical features of an organism, like the bill on a bird or the fur on a bear.
Other adaptations are behavioral. Behavioral adaptations are the things organisms do to survive. For example, bird calls and migration are behavioral adaptations.
A red-cockaded woodpecker captures an insect.
Adaptations are the result of evolution. Evolution is a change in a species over long periods of time.
Adaptations usually occur because a gene mutates or changes by accident. Some mutations can help an animal or plant survive better than other animals or plants in the species that don’t have the mutation.
For example, imagine a bird species. One day, a bird is born with a beak that is longer than the beaks of other birds in the species. The longer beak helps the bird catch more food. Because the bird can catch more food, it is healthier than the other birds, and it lives longer and breeds more. The bird passes the gene for a longer beak to his offspring. Birds with longer beaks also live longer and have more offspring, and the gene continues to be inherited generation after generation.
Eventually, the longer beak is found in all of the species. This doesn’t happen overnight. It can take thousands and thousands of years for a new species to develop.
Over time, animals that are better adapted to their environment survive and breed. Animals that are not well adapted to an environment may not survive.
The characteristics that help a species survive in an environment are passed on to future generations. Those characteristics that don’t help the species survive slowly disappear.
The Virginia opossum has many behavioral adaptations it uses to survive.
The Virginia opossum has several behavioral adaptations that help it survive in the wild. When it feels threatened, it may first try to escape by running away. If it cannot get away, it can show a range of defensive behaviors, including growling, belching, hissing, baring its teeth, and releasing a strong, unpleasant odor from its anal glands. It may also drool, urinate, or defecate as part of this stress response.
If the threat continues, the opossum may “play possum,” a behavior called thanatosis. During thanatosis, the opossum rolls onto its side, becomes stiff, and appears lifeless. Its breathing becomes very slow and shallow, and it may not respond to touch or sound.
Many predators, thinking that the opossum is dead, This can make it seem like the opossum has died, and some predators will leave it alone and just walk away.
Beavers use their strong, sharp teeth to cut the wood they need to build their lodges.
Wood plays an important role in a beaver’s survival. It is part of its diet, and it is used to build the beaver’s lodge. The beaver has special adaptations that help it get the most out of the wood in its environment. The beaver has long, sharp upper and lower incisors (teeth) that it uses to cut into trees and woody vegetation. These teeth grow throughout the beaver’s life.
Even the beaver’s large, flat, nearly hairless tail helps. It uses its tail to help maintain its balance when it is gnawing on trees. Most of the beaver’s diet is made up of tree bark and cambium. Cambium is the soft tissue that grows under the bark of a tree. The beaver has a specialized digestive system that helps it digest tree bark and cambium.
The osprey is perfectly adapted for catching fish!
The osprey is perfectly adapted for catching fish. It has powerful legs and pale gray feet with sharp talons that help it catch fish. The osprey’s feet have rough, pointed scales on them that help the osprey hold onto the fish it catches. Its feet have two toes pointing backwards that also help the osprey grab and hold onto fish.
Junior Naturalist Patrice looks at how plants and animals are adapted to their environment. Patrice and Senior Naturalist Dave Erler observe the unique adaptations of the opossum. We take a close look at the beaver. Cody and Octave visit the New England Aquarium’s critical care ward and learn how they are treating Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles that have washed ashore on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. VIEW
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