Adaptations: How Traits Help Organisms Survive — Passage
An adaptation is a trait that helps an organism survive in its environment. These traits can be physical features, like thick fur or sharp claws, or behaviors, like hunting at night or migrating to warmer places. Adaptations happen through the process of natural selection—when helpful traits become more common in a species over many generations.
Animals and plants live in all kinds of environments, and each one has its own challenges. In a cold, snowy place, animals with thick fur are more likely to survive and reproduce. Over time, most animals in that environment will have thick fur. In deserts, plants like cacti have thick stems and waxy coatings to store water and reduce evaporation. These traits help them live with little rainfall.
Adaptations don’t happen overnight. They appear slowly, as organisms with helpful traits survive and pass those traits on to their offspring. This is why giraffes have long necks—to reach leaves high in trees—and why fish have fins and gills to live underwater.
Not every trait is an adaptation. Only traits that improve survival or reproduction in a specific environment are considered adaptations. Traits that don’t help—or even hurt—an organism’s chances of surviving may disappear over time through natural selection.
Understanding adaptations helps explain how different species are so well-suited to where they live. It also helps students connect how natural selection shapes living things over time.
Fun Fact: The Arctic fox has thick fur in winter that turns white to blend in with snow—and a shorter coat in summer that turns brown to match the rocks and grass!
What is an adaptation?
A change in weatherA learned skillA helpful trait for survivalA random movementHow do adaptations develop?
In one generationThrough natural selection over timeWhen animals try hardBy eating certain foodsWhat is an example of a physical adaptation?
Sleeping moreThick fur in cold placesDigging holesMaking loud soundsWhat helps a cactus survive in the desert?
Lots of flowersSoft leavesWaxy stem and water storageBright colorsWhy do giraffes have long necks?
To stay warmTo scare predatorsTo reach high leavesTo drink waterWhat happens to traits that don’t help survival?
They stay foreverThey grow strongerThey may disappear over timeThey become adaptationsWhat is the main idea of the passage?
Only animals adaptAdaptations help living things surviveTraits never changePlants can’t adaptIf a rabbit lives in a snowy area, what trait might help it survive?
Brown furBig earsWhite fur for camouflageLoud voiceRelated Content
