NCERT Class 6 Science Chapter 9 | The Living Organisms – Characteristics And Habitats
1. What are organisms?
Organisms are living creatures.
2. Explain the adaptation that allows a camel to live in deserts.
They have long legs that keep their body away from the heat of the sand. They do not sweat. They excrete only a small amount of urine and their dung is dry. Since camels do not lose much water from their body, they can live in the desert for many days without water.
3. Explain the adaptive features present in fish
They have streamlined bodies that allow them to move inside water. The slippery scales on their body provide them protection. Their flat fins and tail help them change direction and through their gills they use oxygen dissolved in water.
4. What is adaptation?
The presence of specific features or certain habits that allow a plant or animal to live in its surroundings is called adaptation.
5. What is a habitat?
The surroundings where organisms live are their habitats.
6. What are terrestrial organisms?
Plants and animals that live on land are called terrestrial organisms.
7. What are aquatic habitats?
The habitats of plants and animals that live in water are called aquatic habitats.
8. What are biotic habitats?
The living things such as plants and animals in a habitat are called biotic components.
9. What are abiotic components?
The non-living things in a habitat are called abiotic components. Examples are: rocks, soil, air, water etc.
10. What is germination?
Germination is the process in which a seed turns into a sprout.
11. How do desert animals like rats and snakes protect themselves from the heat?
They stay in deep burrows in the sand. They come out only at night.
12. Adaptation of desert plants
They lose very little water through transpiration. Their leaves are either absent or very small or they are in the shape of spines. In these plants, stems carry out photosynthesis. The stem also has a waxy layer to prevent loss of water. Also, they have deep roots.
13. Adaptation of mountain trees
They are normally cone shaped and have sloping branches. These trees have needle like leaves which help rainwater and snow to slide off easily.
14. Adaptive features present in mountain animals
They have thick skin or fur to protect them from cold. Snow leopards have thick hair on their body including feet and toes.
15. What is a prey?
The prey is the animal that predators kill for food.
16. Adaptation of squids and octopus
They live near the seabed and catch any prey that moves towards them. They have gills to use oxygen dissolved in water and when they move in water, they make their body shapes streamlined.
17. How do dolphins and whales breathe?
They breathe through nostrils or blowholes located on the upper parts of their heads. Thus they can breathe in air when they swim near the surface of water.
18. Adaptation in water plants
Their roots are fixed in the soil and they hold the plants in place. Their stems are long, hollow and light. They grow up to the surfaces of the water and leaves and flowers float on the surface of the water. Some aquatic plants are submerged in water. They have thin ribbon like leaves that bend in the flowing water. Some of them have highly divided leaves through which water can flow easily.
19. Adaptation of frogs
They have strong back legs that help them to leap and catch prey easily. Their webbed feet help them to swim in water.
20. Write the characteristics of living beings
a) They need food to live and grow
b) They grow
c) They respire
d) They excrete
e) They reproduce
f) Living things like animals move
g) They die
21. How do earthworms breathe?
They breathe through their skin.
22. What are stimuli?
Stimuli are the changes in our surroundings that make us respond to.
23. What is excretion?
Excretion is the process by which living organisms get rid of the wastes from their body.
