Animal Adaptations Interactive Simulation

Animals have physical and behavioural features — adaptations — that have evolved over generations to help them survive in their specific habitat. An Arctic animal's thick fur traps heat; a desert camel's hump stores fat for lean times; a streamlined fish's body cuts through water with minimal drag. Each adaptation is a solution shaped by natural selection to a particular environmental challenge. Students can change adaptation and compare what happens. Use it for biology inquiry with Grades 2–5 and Middle School on a projector or student device.

Standards: NGSS 3-LS4-3

• Why polar bears are white (camouflage on snow/ice) and have thick fur and fat
• How a hummingbird's beak length evolved to match specific flower shapes
• Why fish and dolphins have similar streamlined bodies despite being very different animals
• How camouflage gives both predators and prey a survival advantage
• Why nocturnal animals have much larger eyes relative to their body size
• What 'convergent evolution' means — different animals evolving similar adaptations

1. 1Predict how changing adaptation will affect the visible outcome, then test the prediction.
2. 2Use evidence from the interactive visual to explain the result.

Questions teachers ask