Humans have an extraordinary ability to live in almost any environment. But, the animals can not live in any environment. They have adaptations that help them survive only in certain areas. Think about if a fish can live in a forest? Or a camel in a polar region? Or a polar bear in the desert? Of course, no. They live in a place where their body is adapted to. Where they can grow and reproduce. Fish lives in water. Camel lives in a desert. A polar bear lives in polar places. So water, desert, and polar regions are all different and have different physical and biological features. The different places, where certain plants and animals can survive, live, grow, and reproduce, are called habitats. Knowing which animals and which plants live in a particular habitat is of big importance in understanding life on earth in general. In this lesson, we are going to learn
Habitats are types of the natural environment in which particular species of organism lives. Habitats have their physical and biological features. For an animal, that means everything it needs to find food and successfully reproduce. For a plant, a good habitat must provide the right combination of light, air, water, and soil.
There are many different sorts of habitats around the world. Different habitats are home to different animals and plants. The main components of habitat are shelter, water, food, and space. Every habitat needs to have a correct amount of these components to enable the plants and animals to survive and thrive in it.
There are two main types of habitats, land habitats, and water habitats.
Land habitats include grasslands, deserts, forests, mountains, and polar regions.
Water or aquatic habitats include freshwater habitats and ocean habitats.
Let's discuss each of these habitats in more detail.
The following are the habitats that we will discuss in this lesson.
A very dry region on the Earth, that receives very low amounts of precipitation throughout the year is called a Desert. Deserts are dry and sandy. They can be either hot places or cold places. Deserts don't have much water. They get less than 250 mm of rain every year. That is why our first thought is that in the desert animals and plants can not survive. But, that is not true. A desert is a habitat of plants, as well as, animals. Plants and animals that live in the desert are able to conserve water and keep their body temperature at the right level. They have a specially adapted system to survive in such hard conditions.
Desert plants
The most known plant that can be found in a desert is the cactus. Other plants are wildflowers, some trees, shrubs, and grasses. They store lots of water to help them through the dry seasons. During the rains, these plants take as much water as they can, and then store the water they take in large storage areas in stems, roots, or leaves.
Desert animals
Camels are one of the most known animals that live in a desert. The key to their survival is the large humps on their back. Coyotes, lizards, snakes, scorpions, desert foxes, and desert tortoises, are animals that can be found in deserts around the world.
| Desert animals | Desert plants |
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Camel |
Cactus |
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Coyote |
Desert tree |
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At the very top and very bottom of the Earth, at the North and South pole, are located the Polar habitats. The North Pole is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, and there isn't land. Only some ice sheets can be found. The South Pole is located in Antarctica. There is some land, but the land is covered with ice. Polar habitats have a lot of snow and ice. They are cold and windy. Even if there are two seasons, summer and winter, it is never warm or hot. It is always very cold. A lot of the area of polar habitats takes up the tundra, which is ground that is nearly always frozen, and it is the only place where some adapted plants can grow. Even if we can't imagine that something can grow and live in that kind of place, the polar region is the home of some animals and plants. They are adapted to these extreme conditions. Let's find out what are they.
Some of the plants that live in the Arctic tundra include mosses, lichens, low-growing shrubs, and grasses, but there are no trees. Plants grow near to the ground and close to each other in order to survive. This is helping plants to resist coldness. In the summer flowering plants produce flowers very quickly. Polar plants have small leaves too. Algae, fungi, and lichens are found in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
You have probably heard of Polar bears. Guess where they live? Of course in polar habitats. They live only in the Arctic (the North pole), but not in Antarctica (the South pole). Other animals that live in the Arctic are the arctic fox, arctic wolf, snowy owl, and the killer whale (orca whale).
All of these animals have special adapted body systems and organs. Hibernating, thick fur coats, and staying close to the ground, help these animals to stay alive in these extremely cold habitats.
In Antarctica can be found penguins, whales, seals, albatrosses, and other seabirds. Penguins have thick, windproof and waterproof feathers. Penguins, whales, and seals have thick layers of fat. Antarctic animals often have small extremities to reduce heat loss.
Mountains are areas much above sea level (around 600 meters). They are home to animals and plants. Even the tops of mountains are home to some of them. Mountain habitats vary a lot from the base to the peak of the mountains. As we go higher in the mountains, we can find different animals and plants, because of different conditions, like colder temperatures, scarcer oxygen, and less food. Mountains are not so easy places to live. But the species for which the mountain is a habitat are adapted to the conditions.
Plants that can be found in mountains are grasses, alpine flowers, lichens, shrubs, and mosses. Trees cannot grow at higher elevations due to extreme climate and harsh winds. The part of a mountain where trees stop growing is called the tree line. Above the snow line, plants usually can not survive. To protect themselves, plants that grow high in the mountains are very close to the ground. Also, plants have adapted to store food, energy, and moisture. Plants that live at higher elevations have stems that allow food storage and are not supposed to wait for the soil to provide them with water and nutrients when spring comes. They are adapted to store moisture too.
Animals that live in the mountains are not the same around the world. Animal life on mountains varies from continent to continent. The list is so long: brown bear, deer, rabbit, eagle, tiger, owl, mountain goat, snow leopard, zebra, squirrel, monkey, gorilla, wolf, fox, and many more are animals that live in mountains. Adaptation is essential for survival. Mountain animals have thick fur and wool to protect themselves from very cold temperatures. Also, some of them are hibernating to preserve energy.
Grasslands are areas filled with tall-growing grasses. The amount of rain is not enough to grow tall trees and produce a forest, but it is enough to not form a desert. All the continents except Antarctica, contain some grassland. Grasslands can be good for growing crops and feeding livestock, so many grasslands have been used for farming.
Each major area of grasslands in the world has its own characteristics and is often called by other names:
A variety of animals live in the grasslands. These include prairie dogs, wolves, turkeys, eagles, weasels, bobcats, foxes, and geese. A lot of smaller animals hide down in the grasses such as snakes, mice, and rabbits.
Different kinds of grass grow in different areas of the grasslands. There are actually thousands of different kinds of grasses that grow in this biome. Where they grow usually depends on the amount of rain that area gets. In wetter grasslands, there are tall grasses that can grow up to six feet high. In dryer areas, the grasses grow shorter, maybe only a foot or two tall.
Even if most of the Earth is covered with a lot of water, approximately 70%, the freshwater (the water we drink) is very rare. It is around 3%. Freshwater habitat is a body of water formed mainly from inland waters and contains a very low level of salinity. The rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and creeks are freshwater habitats. They are homes for more than 100,000 species of plants and animals. Freshwater habitats are found on all the continents of the Earth, except Antarctica. They are some of the most endangered habitats in the world.
Some of the plants that live in freshwater are algae, cattails, water lilies, willow trees, and papyrus. They help keep the water clean. These plants provide food for animals that live there. Depending on where they live they have their adaptations. Some plants have very strong roots that keep them anchored securely. In fast rivers, many of the plants have special structures that will not allow the water to carry them on. Some of the plants may have adaptations that help them keep their flowers above the water.
Fishes, crabs, snakes, beavers, crocodiles, snails, insects, otters, and ducks, all live in freshwater habitats. They all have certain adaptations. Animals that live in water have different ways of obtaining oxygen. Fish breathe underwater using the oxygen that is dissolved in water. They do that using special organs called gills. Flatworms, leeches, and snails get oxygen through the skin. Some other animal adaptations in the freshwater habitat are the long legs.
| Freshwater plants |
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Cattails |
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Willow |
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Papyrus |
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Water lily |
| Freshwater animals |
 Freshwater fish |
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Duck |
 Beaver |
 Crocodile |
Oceans are areas of salty water that fill enormous basins on the Earth's surface. Oceans are wide and deep. Oceans are by far the largest animal habitat on earth. Plants that live in the ocean are specially adapted to be able to tolerate its high salt content, and for getting oxygen. Some of the plants can be found near the shore and some can be found far from the shore. That is why the ocean habitats can be divided into two: coastal and open ocean habitats.
There are so many different types of plants that can be found in the ocean, and all of them are affected by the amount of available sunlight, salinity levels, and the temperature of the water. Unlike the land plants, the ocean plants are able to live in saltwater. Algae, seagrasses, phytoplankton, coral reefs, sea anemones, sea cabbage, marsh grasses, and seaweed are some of the plants that live in the ocean. Some of the plants that live in the ocean can float freely through the water, like sargassum (also known as gulfweed), and some are rooted in the ocean floor, like seagrass.
Just like with plants, the ocean is full of animals that live there too. Whales, dolphins, seals, sharks, octopus, starfish, sea lions, sea turtles, are some of the animals that live in the ocean. Some of them, like seals, spend most of their time underwater, but they are also able to live on land too. Their bodies and organs are specially adapted for life in salty water.
A lot of different types of plants and animals live in forests. Forests are large areas that are covered with plants, and they cover approximately one-third of the Earth. The forests that are found near the equator and receive heavy rainfall throughout the year are called tropical forests or tropical rain forests. The temperatures are high (ranges from 20 to 34 degrees Celsius) and evaporation happens at a fast rate, which results in frequent rainfall. These forests are spread in Malaysia, India, as well as, other countries of South America and Southeast Asia.
The high trees are a mark of these forests. That is because the trees compete to get sunlight. Kapok trees, which can be found in tropical rainforests around the world, can grow to 60 meters. Other plants that live in tropical rainforests are orchids, vine, moss, and fern.
Bats, gorillas, monkeys, sloths, macaws, snakes, lizards, and a variety of insects are common in the tropical rainforests. These animals have adapted different ways to the conditions of the tropical rainforests. Some of them use camouflage and move very slow to hide from predators, other have specific body parts for climbing the trees.
The Amazon jungle is the world's largest tropical rainforest.
Temperate forests are also rainforests but most temperate forests don't get as much rainfall as tropical rainforests. They are not found near the equator, they are found in eastern North America, Northeast Asia, and western and central Europe, mostly in coastal, mountainous areas. Temperate forests have well-defined winter and summer seasons, and the temperature ranges from -30 to 30 degrees Celsius.
Some of the plants that can be found in temperate forests are maple, oak, and elm. Some of the trees do not lose their leaves in the winter, which enables them to still survive in cold times. Some plants have leaves that "curl up" and some have large leaves.
Fox, eagle, mountain lion, bobcat, and black bear are some of the animals that can be found in temperate forests. They have adaptations to survive the conditions. Some of them hibernate (like the black bear), some of them migrate (like birds), and some store their food for the winter (like squirrels). Their bodies are adapted too, they have claws that help them to easily climb up the trees which sometimes is crucial for surviving.
We learned a lot about habitats in this lesson. Now we know:
