Video Transcript
Which of the following is a
behavioral adaptation that would benefit an organism living in a seasonal
environment? (A) A thick layer of blubber under
the skin. (B) The ability to hibernate during
the winter months. (C) Large ears and feet to lose
heat from. Or (D) spikes and thorns to protect
it from predators.
This question is asking us to
figure out which of the answer options is describing an example of a behavioral
adaptation that would be helpful to an organism living in a seasonal
environment. Let’s start by exploring what a
behavioral adaptation is before we take a look at the different answer options.
A behavioral adaptation is a
specific action or behavior that an organism performs that makes it well suited to a
particular environment and often helps it to survive. Which of the answer options show an
example of this? A thick layer of blubber, or fat,
under the skin is often found in organisms that live in cold environments,
particularly in marine animals like seals. The presence of blubber is not an
action or behavior an organism takes to aid its survival. As it is not a behavioral
adaptation, we can eliminate answer choice (A), a thick layer of blubber under the
skin.
Instead, blubber is an adaptation
of the organism’s physical appearance to keep it warm and protect it against cold
weather, thus aiding its survival. This is an example of a different
type of adaptation, a structural adaptation.
A structural adaptation is a
special physical feature of an organism that makes it well suited to its
environment. And there are a few other examples
of these types of adaptations listed in the other answer choices. For example, answer option (C),
large ears and feet to lose heat from, is also describing a structural adaptation
but of different organisms to a very different environment. Instead of being a physical feature
that protects an organism from cold, large ears help organisms like the fennec fox
to lose heat in hot climates. As it is not a behavioral
adaptation, option (C) can be eliminated from our answer choices too.
Answer choice (D), spikes and
thorns to protect it from predators, is also describing structural adaptations. Organisms like hedgehogs are
covered with sharp spikes, or spines. These spines definitely help to
protect the hedgehog against predators. But as they are not a specific
action the hedgehog takes, this is also not a behavioral adaptation and can be
eliminated.
The only answer option we have not
yet explored, (B), the ability to hibernate during the winter months, is an
adaptation that can also be carried out by hedgehogs, albeit for different
reasons. Hibernation is when an organism
enters a sleeplike state of dormancy for months on end, usually in response to cold
weather. Hibernation is an action that helps
animals like the hedgehog to conserve their energy until more favorable temperatures
arrive. This can be particularly important
in seasonal environments where temperature and food availability may change
dramatically throughout the year.
Knowing this, we can deduce the
correct answer to this question. The answer choice that describes a
behavioral adaptation that would benefit an organism living in a seasonal
environment is (B): the ability to hibernate during the winter months.
