What do like about your home? You like it because it’s beautiful colours or because it is cozy? Do you know how plants and animals choose their homes?! Let’s discover five helpful facts about Habitats.
A habitat is an area that is lived in by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives. When you think of habitats you may just think of animals and plants but humans also have a habitat.
For example, your own house is your habitat as a human. You have food, water and shelter that you need to survive. A habitat has everything that an organism needs for survival.
Most animals live in one type of environment because they are best suited to it. Animals and plants are said to be ‘adapted” to their environment. Specific animals and plants can only live in specific environments as they have adaptations which allow them to survive in it.
Some are adapted to living on land while others live in water. For example, animals such as frogs and ducks have webbed feet to help them swim in the water.
Plants also adapt to their environment. For example, plants that grow on land usually have stiff and rigid stems to hold them upright, while plants that live in water have less rigid stems because the water keeps them up.
Climate change is highly impacting animals and plants habitats. Flooding and forest fires are just two of the causes of habitats being destroyed. When a habitat is destroyed, animals are forced to leave and try to adapt to a new habitat.
Many animals can not survive in new habitats and this leads to their population decreasing. This will eventually lead to some animal extinctions. Human activity such as burning fossil fuels, overhunting and deforestation also has a negative impact on plant and animal habitats.
The seven types of habitats are forest, grassland, freshwater, marine, desert, and tundra. There are two main types of ecosystems, these are terrestrial and aquatic. Terrestrial habitats have animals and plants that live on land.
Terrestrial habitat types include forests, wetlands, grasslands, and deserts. Aquatic habitats have animals and plants that live in water. Aquatic habitats include rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and bogs.
Deserts are the driest places on Earth. Most deserts get less than 25 cm of rain a year and some may not get rain at all. A drought in a desert may last for months or years.
Temperatures in deserts can reach over 38°C during the day and can plummet to minus temperatures at night. Deserts have very little clouds that can hold in the heat and for this reason it gets very cold at night. The Sahara desert in Africa is one of the biggest deserts in the world.
Animals that live in deserts include lizards, geckos, toads, jackrabbits, camels, snakes, spiders and meerkats. These animals are adapted to survive with little available water.
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about habitats as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic these habitats are, you can move on to learn about other geography articles like: Australia, United States, Italy, Giant’s Causeway, Day of the Dead in Mexico, Festivals in Mexico, 8 Amazing Places to Visit in Egypt, Egypt, Festivals in India, Beaches, Oceans, Rocks, Rivers, Mountains, Trees and 1 Interesting Fact about Every Country in Asia.
You can also check our articles about environment matters like: Trees, Beaches, Soil Erosion, Food Waste, Energy, Wind Energy, Environmental Sustainability, Deforestation, Floods, Hydro Power, Electricity, Water, Electromagnetic Waves, Recycling, Recycling Crafts, Recycling Paper, Plastic recycling, Rainbows, Farming, Seas and Lakes, Miraculous Atmosphere, Earth and Water Cycle.
And let’s discover more about climates and weather as well: Thunder, Thunderstorms, Thunder and Lightning, Rainbows, Lightning, Floods, Earth’s Atmosphere, Hurricanes, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Blizzard, Wind and Tsunamis.
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