Structural Adaptations
Science · Animals of the World · conceptual
Understand that animals have structural adaptations (body features like the giraffe's long neck, eagle's talons, dolphin's streamlined shape), behavioural adaptations (migration, hibernation, tool use), and physiological adaptations (antifreeze in Arctic fish blood, echolocation in bats) — and that these developed over many generations through natural selection
What mastery looks like
- Defines adaptation as a feature or behaviour that helps an animal survive in its environment
- Gives examples of structural, behavioural, and physiological adaptations
- Explains that adaptations develop over many generations, not during one animal's lifetime
- Connects adaptations to the concept of natural selection at a basic level
Check your understanding
If Structural Adaptations sees a woodpecker pecking a tree, can they explain that its strong beak, long tongue, and shock-absorbing skull are all adaptations — and describe what the word 'adaptation' means with other examples?
Prerequisites
Required first
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