Download Food Chains, Adaptations, Classification, and Inheritance PP

Food Webs and Food
Chains
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Like all living things. You depend on plants
and animals around you to meet your needs.
You eat plants and animal products. You may
live in a building made form wood, you wear
clothes made from plants. Plants and
animals depend on one another to help them
meet their needs.
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All living things needs food. Living things get
their food in many ways. For example a shark
catches its food with its sharp teeth. A bird
uses its beak to get food. Plants make their
own food.
Plants and animals work together with the
environment to get what they need.
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All plants and animals need food which
provides the energy they need to live.
Green plants make their own food. They use the
energy from the sun to make their own food.
Some of this food is used, and some is stored in
the roots, stems, and leaves.
Plants are called producers (they make/produce
their own food by photosynthesis.)
Animals cannot make their own food. Animals
get their energy and biomass by consuming
(eating) other organisms. All animals are
consumers ( they consume/eat)
All living things need food to give them the
energy to grow and move. A food chain
shows how each living thing gets its food. It
shows who is eating who.
Grass
Grasshopper
Toad
Snake
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Hawk
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A food chain always starts with a green plant
(All plants are PRODUCERS.)
...... which is eaten by an animal.
( All the animals in a food chain are
CONSUMERS)
A food chain ends with a predator.
(The predator is at the top of the food chain)
The Sun is very important for all living things,
without the sun the plants would not grow,
without plants there would be no animals
http://www.pbs.org/edens/etosha/fm_foodchain.htm
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http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/f
lash.php?&file=foodchains
http://puzzling.caret.cam.ac.uk/game.php?g
ame=foodchain
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/pl
ayer/kids/animals-pets-kids/invertebrateskids/krill-kids.html
A food web consists of many food chains.
A food chain only follows just one path as animals
find food.
eg: A hawk eats a snake, which has eaten a frog,
which has eaten a grasshopper, which has eaten
grass. A food web shows the many different paths
plants and animals are connected.
eg: A hawk might also eat a mouse, a squirrel, a frog
or some other animal. The snake may eat a beetle, a
caterpillar, or some other animal. And so on for all the
other animals in the food chain.
 A food web is several food chains connected
together
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Herbivore - an animal that eats plants.
Carnivore - an animal that eats other animals.
Omnivore - an animal that eats both plants and
animals eg bears and humans.
Producer - usually a green plant that produces its own
food by photosynthesis
Primary Consumer - Animals that consume only plant
matter. They are herbivores - eg rabbits, caterpillars,
cows, sheep, and deer
Secondary Consumer - Animals that eat primary
consumers (herbivores).
Tertiary Consumer - Animals that eat secondary
consumers i.e. carnivores that feed on other
carnivores.
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Predators - kill for food. They are either secondary or
tertiary consumers - eg polar bears, golden eagles
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Prey - are the organisms that predators feed on.
Examples of predator and prey species are: fox and
rabbit; blue tit and caterpillar; wolf and lamb
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Scavenger - a consumer that eats dead animals (e.g.
crab, crow, vulture, buzzard and hyena. )
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Food Web - a network of interrelated food chains in a
given area
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http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/fr
ogs/chain_reaction/play_chainreaction.cfm
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Jellyfish, polar bears, and snakes don’t look
much alike, but they are all animals. Different
animals have different shapes and sizes. They
also have many different body parts. For
example, a bird has wings and feathers. A lion
has paws and fur. All these features are
important to the way an animal lives.
Animal
Inheritance
How do animals get their features? Young animals inherit their features from
their parents. INHERIT means “to receive from parents.” The body features an
animal inherits are called traits.
An animal can also inherit behavioral traits (not all). Behavioral traits
include actions like nest-building, migrating, or swimming.
What are some of the physical and behavioral traits that cats/dogs inherit
from their parents?
Challenge: What are common traits of mammals?
(Mammals have fur or hair, use lungs to breathe, usually give birth, feed their
young with milk made by their mother’s body)
The different types of animals:
 1) Mammals
 2) Birds
 3)Amphibians
 4) Fish
 5) Reptiles
Classification: Mammals
Mammals:
 Animals that have fur/hair. Examples: Horses, cows,
and dogs
Mammals use lungs to breathe.
Whales use lungs to breathe, but must come to the surface of the
water to breathe the air they need.
 Most mammals give birth to their young. (A cat gives birth to
kittens)
Mammals feed their young with milk
What are the four traits mammals inherit from their parents?
(fur/hair, lungs, gives birth, feed their young with milk)
Classification: Birds
Birds are animals that have feathers, two legs, and wings.
•Most birds use their wings for flying. Some birds cannot fly,
such
as penguins.
Like mammals, birds have lungs to breathe air. Many birds also
care for their young when they are born. Unlike most young
mammals, young birds hatch from eggs.
Feathers cover most of a bird’s body. But not all feathers are the
same. Some feathers help keep a bird warm. Other feathers
help birds fly.
What are 5 traits of birds?
For more information on types of birds, read pg. A56
Amphibians
Amphibians are animals that begin life in the water and move
onto land as adults.
A tadpole grows into a frog, it spends more time out of the
water.
Amphibians lay eggs in the water. The eggs stay there until they
hatch.
Most young amphibians live in the water, most adult
amphibians live on land, but stay close to the water.
Most amphibians have moist skin.
What are three traits of an amphibian?
Read page A61 on the Frog Metamorphosis!
Fish
Fish are animals that live their whole lives in water. Like
young amphibians, fish have gills. The gills are on the
sides of a fish’s head. The gills take in oxygen as water
moves over them.
Most fish are covered with scales. Scales are thin, small,
flat plates that help protect the fish.
Different fish have many different shapes and sizes.
Like other animals, some fish eat plants and others eat
animals. Most fish lay eggs, but some fish give birth to
live young.
What are two traits fish have?
Reptiles
Reptiles are land animals that have dry skin covered by scales. They
live mostly on land and reptiles use lungs to breathe air. Reptiles that
spend a lot of time in water must come to the surface to breathe air.
Example: Crocodiles, often stays near the surface in water, but its
nose and eyes are above the water to breathe and see.
Many reptiles hatch from eggs laid on land. The eggs have a tough,
leathery shell.
Other reptiles are born live. Either way, most of the young are able
to meet their needs as soon as they are born, unlike most mammals.
There are three main groups of reptiles. Lizards and
snakes are in one group. Their bodies have rows of scales
that overlap. Most lizards live in warm climates. They
have four legs and long tails. Snakes don’t have legs.
They move by pushing their bodies against the ground.
• Alligators and crocodiles are another reptile group.
 They live in water, and come out to sun themselves.
• Tortoises and turtles are the third group. They have
shells. Tortoises live on land, turtles live in water.
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Animals (and plants!) survive in their
environment in which they live because they
have certain features or adaptations. The
shape and the size of an animal’s body must
be suited to its surroundings.
The way an animal moves is another
adaptation. In the African savanna, animals
must be able to move quickly to escape their
enemies.
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Many animals living in the rainforest must
hide from their enemies and their prey. Many
rainforest animals use camouflage to blend in
with the colors and shadows of the rainforest
to avoid becoming someone else’s dinner!
Their colors, patterns, and shapes disguise
them and helps animals blend in with their
surroundings.
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Some animals have warning features that
help protect them. Their colorful markings
tell others that they are not good to eat. The
colors and patterns on their bodies mimic the
patterns of dangerous or bad-tasting animals.
This makes their enemies stay away from
them.
Imitating something else is called mimicry.
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Birds are able to escape their harsh
environments by flying to a more suitable
climate during cold winter months. This
escape is called migration.
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If the environment of a plant or animal slowly
changes, then the plant or animal must
change or adapt itself to the new
environment or die out. If the environment
changes too quickly, the animal will die out.
The camel is well adapted to life in the hot, dry desert
environment with the heat, sand, wind and a lack of water.
It would not survive in other environments, like the polar
regions or the rainforest.
 The camel’s body is adapted in several ways to life in the
desert. In blowing sand it can close its nostrils into narrow
slits, and its long eyelashes protect its eyes. Thick hair
grows in a camel’s ears which helps keep out sand. The
camel has wide foot pads that help it to walk on loose
moving sand without sinking in.
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