Video Transcript
The leaf insect, pictured, has
structural adaptations that help it blend in with its environment. What term is given to this ability
of an organism to hide itself in its environment?
Adaptations are characteristics of
an organism that make it well suited to its environment and give it a better chance
of survival. There are functional, behavioral,
and structural adaptations that a species may develop over time as the individuals
most well suited to the environment are more successful in producing offspring. Structural adaptations are
specifically physical features of an organism that make it well suited to its
environment. Structural adaptations can include
things like body size and shape, types of limbs, colors, and so on. Any physical characteristic at all
that can aid in the organism’s survival or help it successfully produce more
offspring could be counted as a structural adaptation.
This question specifically tells us
that the structural adaptation we are looking at helps the organism blend in with
its environment and hide itself. How is this an adaptation? Well, if predators don’t notice
that individual, it will be less likely to be eaten and therefore more likely to
survive longer. Or, on the other hand, blending in
with the environment can help a predator sneak up on its prey and grab it before the
prey notices and is able to get away. This is also an adaptation because
if that predator can get more food this way, it is more likely to survive longer and
be able to provide food for growing offspring.
Either way, this specific
structural adaptation of blending in to the environment is called camouflage. Camouflage refers to any adaptation
that helps an organism conceal itself by blending in with its surroundings. Therefore, the correct answer to
this question is camouflage. The term referring to a structural
adaptation that gives the ability to an organism to hide in its environment is
camouflage.
