Behavioural Adaptations essays

Behavioural Adaptations essays Beahvioural Adaptations - Hibernation in Chipmunks Beahvioural adaptations are a way for a species to increase their survival rate by modifying an aspect of their behaviour. Many animals adapt to hibernate, this is when they go into a deep sleep in the winter and do not wake up until the spring. Chipmunks have adapted over time to do this, it allows these small mammals to dramatically increase their survival rate and not have to worry about finding food in the deep snow. Hibernation is a behavioural adaptation in chipmunks that has allowed them to survive winters easily, increase in population and therefore advance as a species. Chipmunks are small mammals that look their relatives, the squirrel. Chipmunks are much smaller than squirrels and has a striped back, with five dark, and two light stripes. They are about 20 to 28 centimeters long. The chipmunks home is a burrow dug under rocks or tree roots, or in old logs. There are tunnels off the leaf-lined nest that lead to storerooms where food is stored. Chipmunks eat nuts, seeds, wild fruits, and berries. They have inner cheek pouches that they can stuff with food. In the fall they may store some extra food to eat before they hibernate. By late spring, around 30 days after mating, the female chipmunk gives birth to about four or five live young. Animals have three options to how they spend their winters. One of these options is to remain where they spend all of their time, and risk not finding food and fighting off cold. Another option is to migrate, this is when animals move from one place to another where they can survive more easily, by finding more food or not having to fight off cold. Birds often do this because it is almost impossible for them to find food in the snow and it is much easier for them to fly to a new location than for a land animal to walk. The last option is hibernation, this is when an animal goes into a deep sleep in the winter and d ...