Download Animal Adaptations for Self Defense

Animal Adaptations for
Self Defense
An adaptation is any characteristic that helps an organism to
survive in its environment. Adaptations occur during natural
selection and evolution. A characteristic becomes an adaptation
when that characteristic gives an organism a better chance of
survival. Most animals have adaptations to help them defend
themselves against competitors or predators. For example,
skunks spray a noxious liquid on any person or animal that they
feel threatened by. This substance is very unpleasant and most
animals avoid skunks after
being sprayed one time. The
bold black and white fur
pattern of skunks helps
animals remember the
experience and avoid
skunks.
There are a wide variety of
adaptations for self defense
found in the animal
kingdom. Some of these
adaptations involve the
structure, or physical
properties, of an organism,
and some of these
adaptations involve how an
organism behaves.
Skunks use a chemical defense against predators or
any other animal they feel threatened by. This
adaptation increases their chance of survival.
Physical and Behavioral Adaptations for Self Defense
Many species of lizards have adapted an ability to detach their
tails. This helps them avoid being
eaten by a predator. When a lizard
feels threatened, it draws the
attention of a predator to its tail by
wiggling it back and forth. Lizards
then contract the muscles in the
tail—and it falls off. The tail will
continue to twitch even after it has
detached from the lizard’s body. To
a predator, the twitching tail looks
like an easy meal so, usually the
Geckos, like the one pictured here, are
examples of lizards that can detach their
tails when threatened by a predator.
Discovery Education Science
predator will go after the tail,
© Discovery Communications, LLC
Animal Adaptations for
Self Defense
allowing the lizard to escape. Lizards use a combination of
physical and behavioral adaptations in order to escape
predation. Wiggling the tail is an example of a behavioral
adaptation and detaching it is an example of a physical
adaptation.
The poison dart frogs are a group of frogs that are brightly
colored and that have glands in their skin that
produce toxic chemicals. Their skin is so toxic
that it can kill other small animals if they
attempt to eat one of these frogs. The frogs’
bright coloring acts as a warning to predators.
Predators recognize that these bright colors
mean that the frog is poisonous and they avoid
them. Having toxic skin and bright colors are
physical adaptations of poison dart frogs. This
group of frogs is active during the day, rather
than at night. If these frogs were active during
the night, their predators would not be able to
see the bright warning colors. Being active
during the day is a behavioral adaptation of
This illustration shows some of the many different
poison dart frogs.
brightly colored patterns found in different species
of poison dart frogs.
Some insects mimic the
predators they must
protect themselves from.
The swallowtail butterfly
caterpillar has a pattern
on its skin that makes it
look like the head of a
snake. One of the most
important details about
the caterpillar’s disguise
When threatened, this caterpillar tucks its real
is the fake eyes, or
head under its body and sticks out the part of its
eyespots. When a
body that looks like a snake head.
predator approaches one
of these caterpillars, the caterpillar tucks its own head down and
pushes up the part of its body that looks like a snake. Seeing a
“snake” surprises the predators and they usually move on,
leaving the caterpillar undisturbed. The specialized pattern on
the caterpillar’s skin is a physical adaptation of swallow tail
Discovery Education Science
© Discovery Communications, LLC
Animal Adaptations for
Self Defense
butterfly caterpillars, but tucking their head under in the
presence of predators is a behavioral adaptation.
Sloths are mammals that live in trees in South
America. Their method of self-defense is in the way
they move. Sloths move very slowly and can spend
several years in the same tree. Predators are very
good at detecting movement. A sloth is hard for a
predator to detect because its movements are so
slow. Sloths also sleep curled up in a ball during
the daytime, for about eighteen hours at a time. All
of these behaviors help sloths avoid predators.
Sloths also have grayish-brown fur, which helps
them blend into the trees. This physical adaptation
helps sloths remain unnoticed by their predators.
There are many examples of animal self-defense
adaptations. Many animals use chemicals to make
themselves taste bad or to poison their predators.
Other animals mimic other predators to protect
Sloths move so slowly that it is hard
themselves. Some animals blend into their
for predators to detect them.
surroundings, or camouflage themselves, while
other animals have bright warning colors. All
animals have some type of defense to protect them against
predators and to help them survive.
Discovery Education Science
© Discovery Communications, LLC