HABITATS
What is a habitat?
A habitat is a place that an animal lives.
It provides the animal with food, water and shelter. There are many different sorts of habitats around the world from forests to grasslands and from mountain slopes to deserts.
Different habitats are home to different animals.
Types of Habitat
A habitat meets all the environmental conditions an animal needs to survive. This includes food, water and other animals of the same species to mate with.
There are five major types of habitats:
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Aquatic
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Desert
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Forest
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Grassland
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Tundra
Aquatic Habitat
The aquatic habitat includes the seas and oceans, lakes and rivers, wetlands and marshes, and lagoons and swamps of the world.
Basically, anywhere with water!
Aquatic habitats include every group of animals, from amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates to mammals and birds.
Desert Habitat
Deserts are places that don’t get much rain, and are very dry. They can be either hot places, or cold places.
Because deserts don’t have much water, animals that live in the desert are able to conserve water and keep their body temperature at the right level.
Both plants and animals have adapted to be able to live in the desert.
Forest Habitat
There are many different kinds of forests in different climates, but trees are the one thing they have in common!
More than half of the world’s animals live in the rainforest. From big animals like Bengal tigers and orangutans to smaller animals like dragonflies, tree frogs, and at least hundreds of species of ants.
Many of the plants and animals in the rainforest haven’t even been discovered yet!
Grassland Habitat
Grassland habitats cover 40% of earth and are made mostly of grasses. Grasslands are also known as prairies, pampas, steppes, and savannas.
Grassland ecosystems can support high densities of grazing animals.
They are home to many familiar and fascinating species that live in herds, including zebras and antelopes, and the predators that prey on them, like lions and cheetahs.
Tundra Habitat
Found in the Arctic and on the tops of mountains, Tundra habitats are treeless regions where the climate is cold, windy and has little rainfall.
There are relatively few species of plants and animals that live in the harsh conditions of the tundra.
They are highly vulnerable to environmental stresses like reduced snow cover and warmer temperatures brought on by global warming.
