Theory question 108
Adaptation(a) Describe six protective adaptations used by animals against predation and give one example in each case.
(b) (i) What is pollution? (ii) State six human activities which cause pollution.
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(a) Any six with examples: camouflage/cryptic colouration – body colour matches the surroundings (chameleon, grasshopper, stick insect); warning colouration – bright colours warn that the animal is poisonous or distasteful (some caterpillars, monarch butterfly); mimicry – a harmless animal looks like a harmful one (hoverfly resembling a wasp); poisonous stings or bites (bees, wasps, scorpions, snakes); protective shell or hard covering (snail, tortoise, pangolin scales); spines or quills (porcupine, hedgehog); playing dead/feigning death (some beetles, opossum); unpleasant smell or secretion (millipede, skunk); speed – running, swimming or flying away (antelope); flash colouration (some grasshoppers and moths); living in groups/herds (antelopes, fish shoals); electric shock (electric fish); ink ejection (squid, octopus).
(b)(i) Pollution is the release of harmful substances or energy (pollutants) into the environment (air, water, land) in amounts that harm living things.
(ii) Any six: burning fuels in vehicles and factories (smoke, exhaust fumes); bush burning; dumping refuse and sewage in water or on land; oil spillage from oil exploration; use of pesticides and fertilizers; mining and quarrying; noise from loud music, generators and machines; discharge of industrial wastes into rivers; smoking cigarettes; use of non-biodegradable materials such as plastics.
For (a), name each adaptation, say how it protects the animal and give an example.