Story Standard

4.L.1.2 Explain how animals meet their needs by using behaviors in response to information received from the environment

One day, two young camels named Cammy and Sam were walking along the Nile River. Cammy had originally tagged along because the thought of a long refreshing drink sounded wonderful. But as soon as she reached the river, she realized that she was not thirsty. How could this be? She had not had a drink in days!

"Sam" she said "You know, I'm not even thirsty. I'm not sure how that is even possible when I have not had a drink in days". As Sam gulped down a refreshing mouthful of water, he said, "Silly, don't you know that we camels don't have to drink often?" Cammy was puzzled. "It's actually called adaptation" he explained. "Adapt-WHAT?" she asked confused.

Adaptation!

What's that?

"Adaptation is when you change how you are over time to fit in with your environment, animals do it all the time..including camels" Sam informed Cammy.

Cammy was shocked. She had never heard such a thing. She did not remember ever having to change anything about herself to be a camel.

"Well Sam, I don't remember having to change anything to be a camel. Does that mean I was another animal before?" Cammy asked concerned.

Sam almost could not contain his laughter. "No Cammy! That's not what I mean. What I mean is camels long before us had to adapt to the desert in order to survive. Being able to store water for long periods of time happens to be one of those adaptations.

Sam continued, "Because the desert is so hot and there are many times where we may not have water, we now are able to hold water for long. But, that is not the only thing that we can do."

As the pair walked back to the herd of other camels, Cammy's mind wondered about the other adaptations that camels had to do in order to survive the harsh desert.

"Is there anything else that we have done that has helped us to adapt?" She asked.

"Yes, there are many! We have long eyelashes that help to protect our eyes from the sand that blows around--- we also have wide feet so that we can walk on the sand without sinking down into it" Sam explained. "We even have very thick lips so that it is easier to eat those delicious cacti plants."

Cammy listened in amazement. She had not known all this time that almost everything she had was made specifically so that she could live in the desert. How amazing was that?