Francis Academy of Saint Dorothy Animal Adaptations

Grade 5 3/31/14

The Houston Toad is an endangered species. It lives in North America. The North American climate is very humid and dry of where it lives. Some very interesting adaptations about it are that they move by making short hops. To get away from predators they have a camouflage to blend in with nature. Their skin has secret chemicals that are distasteful. I like this animal a lot. The Blue Tit is a kind of bird. It lives in Europe. The European climate is temperate, conteintal, nature, with a marine time climate. It has very soft feathers on its fur. Its beak is designed to gather the food it needs well. Like worms. It wings are designed so that it can fly short distances from its nest. Just in case it wants to leave. Their fur is really blue. The white Rhinoceros is a very big creature. It lives in Africa. The climate in Africa is very humid. The rain never reaches the ground because of the denseness of the trees. It wallows in the mud to protect its skin from the sun. They have a prehensile lip for browsing. They have sharp hearing and a keen sense of smell so they can find each other. Even if they are far away. They are a very interesting animal.

The Salt Water crocodile is the only crocodile that breathes Salt Water. It lives in Australia. Its very dry and arid. Some of its adaptations are the crocodile gaps its mouth open to cool itself down. Its rear feet are webbed to aid with swimming. The mother carries its babies in its mouth to carry them safely to the water. These animals are gigantic. The Giant Anteater lives in South America. The climate there is it has many rainfalls there are a lot of cold and hot areas. Some adaptations are is the Anteater has no teeth but has a tongue that is 2 feet long covered in backward pointing spines covered in saliva when it fishes for food. The Anteaters curl up their paws forming a fist. They do this to keep their claws sharp. They spend only one minute at each ant mound so ants dont sting them. The Orca lives in Antarctica. They are also known as the Killer Whale. The climate there is the coldest of all the Earth. Three adaptations of the killer whale are they can glide through the water with the use of a dorsal fin and pectoral flippers. When they are diving deep its lungs collapse to force air into the wind pipe so they can breathe a lot better than with their lungs non-collapsed. The Orcas breed with pods to prevent interbreeding. I learned a lot about all the continents. It was a lot of fun researching all the animals and their adaptations. We have been doing this for the past 3 weeks. When I started I thought it would be a lot longer than 3weeks I thought 4

weeks. My favorite animal was the Salt Water Crocodile because the animal can grow to a size of a boat used for touring. This was a lot of Fun I hope I can do it again next year. I also liked the blue Tit because before I did my Research I didnt even know it existed. It is a nice little bird because I love its colorful feathers. I liked all of the animals but these were my favorite. This project took a long time but it was worth it.