GEOGRAPHY

The animals in “On the Menu” have adapted to survive where they live. How have other animals adapted to their habitats?

• 1 Choose a Topic Work with a partner and research a specific habitat like the desert. Find out which animals live in this habitat and how they have adapted to it. Then choose one of those animals to research.

  Internet InsideNG.com

  • Learn about a habitat and the animals that live there.

• 2 Summarize Your Information Write down the information you find about your animal’s adaptations. A good way to understand and remember important information is to summarize it. When you summarize, you state the main idea and only the most important details, usually in a sentence or two. With your partner, write a summary that tells how your animal survives in its habitat. Follow these steps:

  • • Read your information. What is it mostly about? This is the main idea.

  • • Note important details. Decide which to include and which to leave out.

  • • Write a short summary of the information. Your summary should make sense to someone who does not know the information.

  Original Information:

  The snowshoe hare has rusty brown fur in summer so it blends in with the colors of fields. In fall, the hare loses its brown fur and grows thick white fur. The new fur matches the snow in winter and keeps the hare warm.

  Summary:

  The snowshoe hare survives by blending in with its environment. In the summer, its brown fur blends in with the fields. In the winter, its white fur matches the snow.

  This is a good summary because it’s short and covers the main idea and only the important details.

• 3 Share Your Summary Present your summary to your class to tell what you and your partner discovered about animal adaptations.