2. What is an environment?
Plants and animals live together in many different
environments all around the world.
An environment is all the living and nonliving things
in a place.
The environment is the surroundings: air, water,
plants, and animals.
Each kind of environment has many different kinds of
animal habitats.
3. What is a habitat?
• Every animal has a habitat.
• The place where an animal or plant lives
and grows is called its habitat.
• A habitat is where an animal finds the
food, water, and shelter it needs to live.
• For example, a toucan’s habitat is the
rainforest.
5. Desert Habitats
A desert is a very warm place. The air is very hot and dry.
There is very little rain. The soil is very sandy.
Most animals that live in the desert sleep during the day because
it is too hot. They come out at night to eat. They are called
nocturnal.
Some desert animals burrow in the ground during the day
Many plants have thick leaves in the desert to retain water.
Most desert animals get their water from the food
they eat.
6. Rain Forest Habitats
A rain forest is an environment
where rain falls almost every day.
A rain forest has warm weather
year round.
A rain forest has millions of
plants and animals.
Many of these plants are used to
make medicines to fight diseases
and illnesses.
Rain forests are located along the
equator.
7. Forest Habitats
A forest is an
environment that
gets enough rain and
warm temperatures for
lots of trees to grow.
When the fall arrives, the
leaves will turn red,
orange, and yellow.
Once winter comes, the
trees lose their leaves.
8. Tundra Habitats
A tundra is an environment
that is very cold and windy.
It is a treeless area.
It is the coldest environment.
The land is covered with
snow and ice most of the
year.
Much of the land has
ground that is permafrost,
permanently frozen.
The summers are short.
9. Freshwater Habitats
Pond
Lake
Stream
River
You might find frogs, ducks, beavers,
turtles, dragonflies, and many kinds of
fish in a freshwater habitat.
12. Animal Adaptations
Camouflage
Migrate
Body Coverings
• Hibernate
• Estivate
• An adaptation is anything about an animal that helps it
live or survive in its environment.
• Animals are always in danger of being eaten and have
developed many ways of protecting themselves from
hungry animals.
• Animals may find winter shelter in holes in trees or logs,
under rocks or leaves, or tunnel underground.
• If animals do not adapt to their environment, they die!
13. Camouflage
Camouflage is when the animal blends in with the
surrounding environment to help it hide.
Some animals’ fur or skin can change color. This
helps to protect them.
14. Some Animals
Migrate
Some animals travel to far away places. This is called migration.
Animals move from one habitat to another to survive.
Animals are looking for warmer weather or searching for food.
Many birds migrate in the fall. Birds can fly very long distances.
Many fish migrate. They may swim south, or move into deeper,
warmer water.
Many insects also migrate.
Whales, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds, robins, geese, ducks,
salmon are some animals that migrate.
16. Body Coverings
Some animals will grow new, thick
fur in the fall to keep warm in the winter.
An armadillo has a covering of hard plates to protect
its body.
The porcupine uses its quills for defense.
A turtle can pull its head, feet, and tail inside its shell
for protection.
17. The Coming Winter
As the weather gets colder,
people stay inside warm houses
and wear heavy coats when they
go outside. In the winter we get
our food from the grocery store.
What happens to the animals?
18. Some Animals Hibernate
Hibernation is when an animal goes through
the winter into a long, deep sleep.
One way animals can adapt to the changing
environment is by hibernating.
Some animals hibernate for part or all of the winter. The
animal's body temperature drops, and its heartbeat and
breathing slow down. It uses very little energy. In the fall, these
animals get ready for winter by eating extra food and storing it
as body fat. They use this fat for energy while hibernating.
Some also store food like nuts or acorns to eat later in the
winter. Bears, skunks, chipmunks, and some bats hibernate.
Insects look for winter shelter in holes in the ground,
under the bark of trees, deep inside rotting logs or in any small
crack they can find.
20. Some Animals Estivate
Estivate is when an animal sleeps during the summer.
What causes an animal to estivate? HEAT
Ground squirrels in the desert will estivate in their burrows
to get out of the heat.
Some toads estivate to escape the hot, dry summer.
Many amphibians and reptiles estivate, as do some insects,
snails, and fish.
21. How do plants help animals?
Plants provide food and shelter for many
animals.
Plants are used to make medicines to fight
disease and illnesses.
Animals use plants for shelter. For example,
birds build nests and beavers build dams.
Plants provide oxygen that we need to live.
Plants provide protection for animals hiding.
Plants are used to make clothing, paper, and
wood products.
Plants also provide beauty for the Earth.
22. How do animals help plants?
Animals help spread seeds.
Some animals, like
squirrels, bury seeds when
they store them and forget
to go back to get them.
Some of these seeds that
are left in the ground will
germinate.
Seeds attach to animals that
have fur. Later the seeds
will fall off the animal and
grow in a new place.
Insects and birds help
pollinate flowers.
23. Ecosystem
An ecosystem is how plants,
animals, and nonliving things
in an environment effect each
other.
24. NEW WORDS TO LEARN
Before we discuss what a food chain is,
we need to learn these new words.
herbivore
carnivore
omnivore
• producers
• consumers
Let’s Begin . . .
27. Omnivores
Some animals, like us, eat both plants and animals.
These animals are called “omnivores”.
28. Producers
Plants are living organisms. They need nourishment
to survive.
But…
Plants do not eat other plants or animals.
Plants are called producers, because they produce
their own food using sunlight.
29. Consumers
“Consume” means “eat”.
Animals are consumers because they “eat” (consume)
food provided by plants or other animals.
30. What is a food chain?
Food chains show how each living thing gets its
food.
A food chain is the order in which animals eat
plants and other animals.
The sun is the primary source of a food chain. Plants
get their energy from the sun. Without the sun, we
would not have any plants. A food chain always
starts with a plant.
Next in the food chain is an animal, because plants
cannot eat plants.
A food chain always ends with an animal.
plant animal animal animal
31. Food chains always start
with a plant.
The beetle eats the plant.
The frog eats the beetle.
The turtle eats the frog.
