Section Warm-Up
Analyzing Bird Beaks
Physical traits of a species are used by that species to survive:
- Humans’ opposable thumbs are useful for manipulating tools and getting food.
- A tiger’s stripes help him hide in grasslands and sneak up on prey.
- A giraffe’s long neck helps him reach leaves on trees that other species can’t eat.
- Birds use their beaks to get food.
Differences like this are a key to why some species survive through time and why others become extinct—those with the traits that best allow them to get what they need to survive will persist, while those that cannot get what they need likely become extinct.
On the whiteboard you see some example birds with different types of beaks. For each bird, write the type of food you think that particular bird species is best suited for eating. Some examples include seeds, fish, insects, meat, flower nectar, etc. Save your file for use later in this section.
