Defense Against Predators

#defense #adaptations #animals #ngscience
Animals use special body parts to keep themselves safe from other animals. Let's explore a few of these.

A monarch butterfly caterpillar, for instance, has bright yellow, black, and white stripes. These bright colors warn other animals to stay away. The adult butterflies are also bright to show they are poisonous and not safe to eat.

A frilled-necked lizard has a neat trick when it feels danger. It can make its neck bigger so it looks large and scary to animals that may want to harm it.

When a millipede feels scared, it has a smart way to protect itself. It curls up into a tight ball, making it harder for other animals to hurt it.

Many animals use a trick called camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. The gray treefrog can change its color to match where it is sitting, turning gray when on tree bark and green when on leaves. This makes it really hard for other animals to see it.

Stick insects have a body shape and color that make them look like twigs or branches. This helps them blend in with plants around them, making them almost invisible to animals that may want to eat them.

Some animals have hard outer parts that act like armor. Porcupines, for example, have sharp quills. When they feel threatened, they can raise these quills to look bigger and scarier. If another animal comes too close, it may get pricked by these sharp quills, which usually scares them away.

Turtles have a hard shell that protects them. If a turtle feels scared, it can pull its head, legs, and tail into its shell. This leaves only the hard shell for other animals to touch, helping the turtle stay safe.

So, from bright warning collars to camouflage and hard outer shells, animals have many ways to protect themselves from danger.