Video Transcript
Some examples of behavioral
adaptations are listed below. (1) Birds can migrate to warmer
climates during winter months. (2) Reptiles in the desert shelter
in the shade during the hottest part of the day. (3) Some mammals undergo
hibernation during winter. (4) Some species are only active at
night, nocturnal. Which of these behavioral
adaptations can actively help an organism find food?
This question asks us to determine
which of the behavioral adaptations listed can help an organism to find food. Let’s start by finding out what a
behavioral adaptation is before we look at the examples that have been provided.
A behavioral adaptation is a
specific action or behavior that an organism performs that makes it well suited to a
specific environment and often helps it to survive. For example, twice every year, a
vast number of adult swallows make an approximately 6000-mile trek between the UK
and Southern Africa. This is called migration. Migration means that even during
the cold winter months when little food is available in the UK, the swallows can
still obtain sufficient food in the warmer climates of Southern Africa to allow
their continued survival. As migration does actively help
organisms to find food when it is otherwise scarce, the behavioral adaptation listed
in example (1) must be correct.
Let’s take a look at the other
adaptations and deduce whether these also help an organism to actively find
food. Example (2) describes how desert
reptiles, like lizards, sometimes shelter in the shade during the hottest part of
the day. They might happen to find food
while they are sheltering away, but this is not the primary reason why desert
reptiles might carry out this behavior. Instead, it primarily helps them to
keep cool, protecting them from the scorching desert heat. This does aid their survival, but
it is not an adaptation that helps them to actively find food. So, this example does not fit with
what the question is asking us to find.
Example (3) states that some
mammals undergo hibernation during winter. Hibernation is when organisms enter
a deep sleeplike state, sometimes remaining in this dormant state for months on end,
usually in response to cold weather. This is a helpful behavioral
adaptation that allows organisms like bears to sleep through cold winter months when
not much food is available. Hibernation definitely aids
survival in some organisms, but it does not help them to find food. In fact, it is entirely the
opposite as it is impossible to find food while sleeping!
Let’s take a look at the final
example (4): some species are only active at night, nocturnal. The word “nocturnal” is used to
describe organisms that rest during the day and only become active during the dark
hours of night. This is helpful for avoiding some
visually hunting predators that are active during the day, but it can also be useful
to certain organisms in actively finding food! Most owls, for example, are
nocturnal. Some owls hunt their prey during
dawn and dusk, but mostly they hunt at night. This is because their incredible
eyesight, phenomenal hearing, and almost noiseless flight allows them to easily
detect and then ambush their unsuspecting prey under the cover of darkness!
As we have deduced that behavioral
adaptations (1) birds can migrate to warmer climates during winter months and (4)
some species are only active at night, nocturnal, both help organisms to actively
find food, they indicate the correct answer to this question. Therefore, the behavioral
adaptations listed that can actively help an organism find food are those numbered
(1) and (4).
