☰ خطة العام · العلوم (بالإنجليزية)

Surviving and hiding

الأسبوع 1 · المحور الأول «الأنظمة»، الوحدة الأولى «الأنظمة الحية»: ابدأ، المفهوم 1.1 «التكيف والبقاء» (أ): البيئة والبقاء والتخفي · 3 دروس
3

Hiding in plain sight

Discovery Education Science P4: Term 1, Unit 1, pp. 1–9
GoalExplain camouflage and the jobs of predator and prey.
New words
camouflage · colours or patterns that make an animal hard to seepredator · an animal that hunts other animals for foodprey · an animal that is hunted by a predator
Explanation

Some animals are hard to see in their habitat. A polar bear’s fur looks white against the snow, so a seal does not notice it creeping closer. The polar bear is a predator, an animal that hunts other animals. The seal is its prey, the animal that is hunted. A sand-coloured lizard on desert sand is hard for a hunting bird to spot, so here camouflage helps the prey. Camouflage helps hunters creep up and helps hunted animals stay unseen. It works only in the right place: a white bear on dark rock would be easy to see. Camouflage is an adaptation. An animal cannot choose its colour for a day; the colours came from many generations of the same kind of animal living in that habitat.

AnimalJobCamouflage helps it to…
polar bearpredatorcreep close to a seal
sand-coloured lizardpreystay unseen by a bird
Worked examples
A polar bear lies low on the snow and moves very slowly toward a seal. The bear is the predator, the seal is the prey, and the white fur helps the bear get close.
An eagle flies over the desert looking for food. A lizard the colour of sand does not move. The eagle flies on without seeing it, so the lizard survives.
caterpillarleafbird
Jana finds a green caterpillar on a green leaf, and it is hard to see. A hungry bird is looking for caterpillars, but the colour of the leaf hides this one.
Class activity

Hide-and-find. Tear ten small squares of paper into five colours (two of each). Lay a coloured cloth or a patterned rug on the floor. A friend closes their eyes while you scatter the squares on the cloth. The friend opens their eyes and collects squares for 15 seconds. Which colours were taken first? Which stayed hidden? Write the answer in a table. The colours that match the cloth are camouflaged.

Practice
1
When a polar bear creeps toward a seal, which is the predator and which is the prey?
2
Which two animals are predators? Say the letters.
ABCD
3
A white bear stands on a dark rock. Why is its camouflage not working?
4
Give one reason camouflage helps a predator and one reason it helps prey.