Savanna Adaptations

Animal Adaptations

• Lion - blend in with their evnironments


• Zebra - have flat teeth for grinding grass


• Giraffe - have a long neck to reach leaves at the top of trees


• Cheetah - run fast to catch prey

Plant Adaptations

• Grass - have deep roots to get lot's of water and allows it to grow back after fires; they also turn brown to limit water loss


• acacia trees - have thorns to discourage animals eating its leaves and have a relationship with stinging ants that also discourage animals from eatings its leaves


• baobab trees - grows leaves only during the wet season, has thick trunks to store water, and has fire resistant bark

Savanna facts

Frequent fires and lack of rainfall make it difficult for large plants and trees to grow on the savanna. You will find very few trees on a savanna and poor soil. The tropical savanna is warm all year since it is located near the equator.

• African Serengeti - most well know grasslands

Prairie Adaptations

Animal Adaptations

• Monarch Butterfly - formed an interdependent relationship with the Milkweed plant
  The larvae of the Monarch Butterfly feed on Milkweed leaves which are toxic to most insects. This toxin accumulates in the body of the larvae and adult Monarch Butterfly, making it posionous to the birds, thus protecting it from being eaten.


• Pronghorn Antelope - their great eyesight allows them to spot predators from miles away and they are the fastest mammal on earth!


• Bison - live in herds for protection


• Black-Footed Feret - their color helps it blend in with the prairie and hide from predators, its speed helps it escape from enemies, and its snapping jaws helps it kill prey twice its size


• Prairie Dog - they burrow to hide from predators and have strong hind legs to stand on so they can spot predators

Plant Adaptations

• Big Bluestem Grass - is the tallest grass found on tallgrass prairies and it can reach a height of 11 feet. Another name for Big Bluestem is Turkeyfeet because of the shape of the seedheads. The grass was also important food for the American Bison.

Prairie facts

As a temperate grassland, it has a mild climate and four seasons. It also has soil that is rich in humus.

Geography

Where are tropical grasslands located?
Where are temperate grasslands located?
What are the major grasslands of the world?

Vocabulary

• grassland - a biome that has many trees


• temperate - having a mild climate and four seasons


• tropical - Near the equator and warm all year


• equator - an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere.


• toxin - poison