VIII. Answer the following questions:
1. How are the following adapted to live in their respective environment?
(i) Water lily
(ii) Yak
(iii) Cactus plant
(iv) Fish
(v) Birds
(vi) Camel
(vii) Snow leopard (viii) Lion
Answers
Answer:
Water lily:
Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 known species
Yak:
The domestic yak is a long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau, Northern Myanmar, Yunnan, Sichuan and as far north as Mongolia and Siberia. It is descended from the wild yak.
Cactus plant:
A cactus (plural cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales.The word "cactus" derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek κάκτος, kaktos, a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain.Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes.
Fish:
Fish are gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. They form a sister group to the tunicates, together forming the olfactores. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups.
Birds:
Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5.5 cm (2.2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds.
Camel:
A camel is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from hair).
Snow leopard:
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia), also known as the ounce, is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is estimated to number less than 10,000 mature individuals and is expected to decline about 10% by 2040.
Lion:
The lion is a species in the family Felidae and a member of the genus Panthera. It has a muscular, deep-chested body, short, rounded head, round ears, and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions have a prominent mane.
Answer: Water lilies have a number of adaptations that help them survive in water, including big leaves that float on the water's surface to attract ample sunlight for photosynthesis. The top side of the leaf is covered with a cuticle to keep it as dry as possible, and the underside has thorns to protect against predators.
Yaks have special adaptations to help them excel at high elevations. The yak's tongue is extremely rough, making it well adapted for scraping mosses and lichens off of rocks and other tough surfaces. Like other bovines, the yak has a rumen.
The cactus plants to survive in the hot and dry environment of a desert are given below: (1) Cactus plants have modified their leaves in the form of thin spines (or thorns) to reduce the loss of water through transpiration. (3) The cactus plants store water in their stems.
fish is adapted to live life in water because of its following special features: (1) The head, trunk and tail of a fish merge to form a streamlined shape. The streamlined body shape helps the fish to move through the water easily (because such a shape offers least resistance to motion).
Bird Many of the bones in a bird's body are hollow, making the bird lightweight and better adapted to flying. Birds also have feathers that make flight easier. Long feathers on the wings and tail help birds balance and steer and other feathers provide insulation and protect birds from the sun's ultraviolet rays.
Camels are well adapted for survival in the desert. Their adaptations include: large, flat feet - to spread their weight on the sand. thick fur on the top of the body for shade, and thin fur elsewhere to allow easy heat loss.
Snow leopards have a well-developed chest that helps them draw oxygen from the thin air of the high mountains. Snow leopards also have short forelimbs with sizeable paws, long hind limbs, and a thick tail nearly a meter long. These adaptations help them balance on the rocky precipices of their home.
Lion has adapted strong, retractable jaws and rough tongues to help them eat their prey, and lions that live in particularly hot environments have adapted to stay cooler in the heat.
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