Animals and their homes
Biology · Key Stage 1 · The School
A habitat is a home that provides
A habitat is where a plant or animal lives — but it is more than an address. A good habitat provides food, water, shelter, and space. A pond gives a frog insects to eat, water to keep its skin damp, and weeds to hide in.
Matched to their home
Animals suit their habitats. A camel's wide feet walk on desert sand; a polar bear's thick fur keeps out Arctic cold; a fish's gills breathe underwater. Swap them around and each would struggle — the fit between body and habitat is the point.
Small worlds: microhabitats
Under a log lives a tiny world: woodlice, beetles, worms. Damp, dark, and full of rotting leaves to eat — a MICROHABITAT. Lift a stone gently in any garden and you will find one (put it back the way you found it).
A fox's nest is a hole in the ground called an earth. But list what it needs in a day: rabbits and berries to eat (from the whole wood), a stream to drink from, brambles to hide in, and the earth to sleep in. Only one of those is the nest. The HABITAT is the whole wood, which is why cutting down the wood is a problem even if the earth is left untouched.