com www.GOALias.blogspot.com www.GOALias ... - fun learning

www.GOALias.blogspot.comBy looking at Tables 7.2 and 7.3 wecan easily see the difference in theclimate of Jammu & Kashmir andKerala. We can see that Kerala is veryhot and wet in comparison to Jammu& Kashmir, which has a moderately hotand wet climate for a part of the year.Similar data for the western regionof India, for example Rajasthan, willshow that the temperature is highduring most part of the year. But duringwinter, which lasts only for a fewmonths, the temperature is quite low.This region receives very littlerainfall. This is the typical desertclimate. It is hot and dry. The northeasternIndia receives rain for a majorpart of the year. Therefore, we can saythat the climate of the north-east is wet.7.3 C7.3 CLIMATEAND ADAPTATIONClimate has a profound effect on allliving organisms.Animals are adapted to survive in theconditions in which they live. Animalsliving in very cold and hot climate mustpossess special features to protectthemselves against the extreme cold orheat. Recall from Chapter 9 of yourClass VI science book the definition ofadaptation. Features and habits thathelp animals to adapt to theirsurroundings are a result of the processof evolution.In Chapter 9 you will learn about theeffect of weather and climate on soil.Here we study the effect of climate onanimals only. In Class VI, you have readabout adaptations of animals to certainhabitats. As examples of adaptation ofanimals to climatic conditions, wediscuss only animals living in polarregions and tropical rainforests.As the name suggests, the polarregions are situated near the poles, i.e.,north pole and south pole.Some well-known countries thatbelong to the polar regions are Canada,Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden,Finland, Alaska in U.S.A. and Siberianregion of Russia.Examples of some countries wherethe tropical rainforests are found areIndia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil,Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, andNigeria.Activity 7.2Take an outline map of the world. Markthe polar regions in blue. Similarly,mark the tropical regions in red.(i) The polar regionsThe polar regions present an extremeclimate. These regions are covered withsnow and it is very cold for most part ofthe year. For six months the sun doesnot set at the poles while for the othersix months the sun does not rise. Inwinters, the temperature can be as lowas –37°C. Animals living there haveadapted to these severe conditions. Letus see how they are adapted byconsidering the examples of polar bearsand penguins.Polar bears have white fur so thatthey are not easily visible in the snowywhite background. It protects them from72SCIENCE