Animals

An adaptation is a feature of a living organism that helps it survive and reproduce in its environment. Adaptations can be structural (body features), behavioural (actions), or physiological (internal processes).

Camouflage allows animals to blend into their surroundings to hide from predators or prey. Mimicry is when one species resembles another to gain a survival advantage. Both are powerful evolutionary adaptations.

Migration is the seasonal movement of animals from one region to another, typically to find food, better conditions, or breeding sites. Many birds, fish, insects, and mammals migrate thousands of kilometres each year.

Birds and reptiles are both vertebrates descended from a common ancestor. Reptiles are scaly and cold-blooded; birds have feathers, are warm-blooded, and evolved from theropod dinosaurs.

Fish are aquatic vertebrates that breathe through gills, while amphibians live both in water and on land, breathing through lungs and moist skin. Together they form two of the five main vertebrate groups.

Invertebrates are animals without a backbone. They make up over 95% of all animal species and include insects, spiders, worms, and molluscs.

Mammals are warm-blooded vertebrates that breathe air, have hair or fur, and feed their young on milk produced by the mother.

Vertebrates are animals with a backbone (vertebral column) that protects the spinal cord. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Study of animal diversity, classification, adaptations, and life cycles across the animal kingdom.

Insects go through a life cycle that includes distinct stages of development. Most insects undergo either complete metamorphosis (four stages) or incomplete metamorphosis (three stages) as they grow from egg to adult.

Metamorphosis is the process by which some animals transform their body shape dramatically during development. Insects and amphibians are the best-known examples, undergoing either complete or incomplete metamorphosis.