Camouflage Summary Questions

Use the notes and answer the following questions:

1. What is an adaptation?
2. Give an example of how camouflage can be advantageous.
3. What is mimicry and give an example?
4. What is the adaptation for antifreeze fish?

ADAPTING TO CHANGES

HOW DOES THE ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE TRAITS?

Camouflage

Both predators and prey have adaptations that evolved through natural selection.

• Predator adaptations help them capture prey.
• Prey adaptations help them avoid predators.
• A common adaptation in both predator and prey is camouflage, the ability of an organism to blend in with its environment because of its inherited traits.
  • Camouflage in prey helps them hide from predators.
  • Camouflage in predators helps them sneak up on prey.

SOME TRAITS OFFER A BETTER ADVANTAGE FOR SURVIVAL

It makes sense that animals do not want to be eaten by other animals, but have you ever thought about plants?

• Do plants protect themselves as well?
  • Have you ever wondered why a flower that is as attractive as a rose could have something as obnoxious as thorns?
  • Why do some plants emit terrible odors or have bad flavors (no, this is not talking about tomatoes)?
• Plants and animals, as well as other living things, have developed defense and survival traits that protect them from predators and help them to obtain food.
• Traits that help an organism survive in its environment are called adaptations.
  • Thorns, poisons, and bad smells protect plants and keep them from being eaten by animals.
  • These are adaptations that help them survive.

Of course animals are able to protect themselves as well.

• Anyone who has spent time in a rural area understands that a skunk is not to be played with.
• Predators that are sprayed by a skunk can be left temporarily blinded and without companionship for a considerably longer time.

Not all defense and survival mechanisms are as noticeable as the odor of a skunk.

• A snowshoe hare changes the color of its fur in the winter.
• A chameleon, a kind of lizard, can alter its color depending on its surroundings.
• Color changing is an adaptation that helps these animals blend into their surroundings and hide from predators.

Young animals are especially vulnerable to being eaten when they are young and unable to run away.

• Deer fawns and elk calves are born with spotted fur.
  • The spots on their fur help them to hide in shrubs when they are young.
  • The spots look like sun spots in the brush and predators often fail to notice the hiding animals.
• The stripes on a tiger help it to hide as well.
  • This helps them to avoid predators when they are young, but also to hide from their prey when they are older and able to hunt for their own food.

Just about every animal that you can think of has a special adaptation that allows it to fulfill its specific job in the habitat in which it lives.

• Many animals and plants have several adaptations that work together to help them survive.
• Most predators, like mountain lions and wolves, have long canine teeth that interlock.
  • These teeth are adapted to gripping and ripping flesh.
• Long sharp claws help animals and birds catch their prey.
• Fish have developed fins that help them to swim and move in the water and birds have wings and feathers that enable them to fly.
• Birds also have hollow bones.
  • This adaptation serves two purposes.
  • The first advantage of hollow bones is that it makes the bird lighter so that it has less weight.
  • Birds also have a way to allow air to flow through their bones as they fly.
  • This system acts as a cooling system to keep the bird from getting too hot on long flights.

Smaller animal such as insects and spiders also have adaptations that help them survive.

• Spiders have front leg-like structures called pedipalps that help them hold their prey.
• They also have fang-like appendages that they use to inject venom into their prey.

SOME TRAITS OFFER AN ADVANTAGE IN ONE ENVIRONMENT, BUT NOT IN OTHERS

Most animals are very well adapted for living in the environment in which they are found.

• But, what would happen if you took that animal out of its environment and placed it in a different one?
• Would it be able to survive?
• In order to survive in a different environment, the animal would have to make certain adaptations in order to maintain life.
• It may have to change what it eats and the way it obtains food, or it might need to find different ways to hide from predators.

Some animals that do very well in their own environment would find it very difficult to survive in a different one.

• Polar bears are very well adapted for living in the arctic.
  • Their white fur hides them so they are able to approach their prey without scaring it away.
• A black bear is a very closely related cousin to the polar bear, but its darker fur makes the shadows in the forests where it lives a perfect place.
  • What would happen if these two cousins were to trade habitats?
  • Could you imagine how difficult it would be for a black bear to forage for berries or sneak up on its prey at the Arctic?
  • What kind of trouble would a polar bear with its white fur have trying to ambush prey in a dark forest?
  • Chances are that neither of these two species would survive the change.

Speed is another factor that provides protection in one environment but not in another.

• Cheetahs are very fast and can run at speeds above 60 miles per hour for short distances.
• This trait is very practical on an open prairie, but would not be the most desirable trait in rough or densely vegetated terrain.
• When animals are placed in an environment where they cannot take full advantage of their strong traits, they must either adapt to the new area, or die.

Mimicry

Mimicry is the similarity between species, which protects one or both.

• This might include warning coloration (like a fly that is colored like a bee), or coloration of a harmful organism, or a bitter tasting organism so others will not eat or bother them.
• On its back, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar has coloring that look like big eyes to scare away predators.

This Walking Stick has changed over time to mimic pieces of wood or branches from a tree to disguise itself from predators.

SCIENCE IN ACTION

Antifreeze Fish

Studying Antarctic toothfish and the special proteins in their bodies that help them thrive in subfreezing waters .

Cassandra Brooks first began studying Antarctic toothfish in 2004 as part of her master’s thesis at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

• Antarctic toothfish are large, deep-sea predatory fish found only in the ice-laden waters surrounding Antarctica.
• Biologists who were fascinated with their ability to live in these freezing waters were the first to study these fish.
• It turns out that Antarctic toothfish have special proteins in their bodies that act like anti-freeze to keep their blood from freezing, thus enabling the fish to live in the icy waters off Antarctica.

Antarctic toothfish have adapted remarkable traits that allow them to survive in sub-freezing waters.

• One of these traits is a slow heartbeat—a beat only once every six seconds.
• The main secret of these unique fish lies in a special protein that acts like antifreeze.
  • They have a natural lifespan of 40 years and can weigh in at over 200 pounds when full-grown.
• By making this unique antifreeze glycoprotein, the Antarctic toothfish are able to keep their blood from freezing.
• It’s a remarkable evolutionary solution to surviving in the frigid waters of the Antarctic.

One of the most amazing things about these Antarctic antifreeze fish is their corollary in the Arctic, where waters reach similar subfreezing temperatures. 

• There, fish carry a similar but different antifreeze protein—evolutionarily distinct from that of the Antarctic toothfish.
• What this means is that fish at both ends of the planet evolved similar antifreeze survival strategies through completely different methods.