A place called home



The oak tree is adapted to live in a habitat where the summers are warm and the winters are cold. It has broad leaves to trap large amounts of sunlight to make food in the summer. It loses the leaves in winter when it is too cold for them to make food and grows new ones in the following spring.

The oak tree is also a habitat for small animals like insects. They live on the oak tree and feed on it. Insects are food for other animals such as spiders and birds.

Oak trees grow together, or with other trees, to make a woodland, which is a habitat for other plants such as the bluebell and for larger animals such as deer.

How many different kinds of oak tree are there?
There are about 500 different kinds of oak tree. Some oaks, such as those that grow in countries around the Mediterranean Sea, are evergreen and some, like the English oak, are deciduous.

What are oak flowers like?
An oak tree has male and female flowers on the same tree. The male flowers are small and wind pollinated. They form catkins which hang down from the twigs. The female flowers are small and found on their own or in small groups. When fertilisation takes place, each flower makes a seed called an acorn.

How is a caterpillar adapted to hold onto a leaf?
A caterpillar has three pairs of legs and four pairs of fleshy stumps with tiny hooks. At the hind end of the caterpillar is a pair of stumps called claspers which grip each side of the leaf.

How are a caterpillars jaws adapted to bite into leaves?
They move from side to side, not up and down like yours. This means they can rest astride the edge of the leaf and nibble it. If caterpillars had jaws like you they would starve. Just hold your hand vertically in the air and try and chew your finger. It can't be done. But if your jaws opened side to side like a caterpillars you could easily give your finger a bite.

How does a living thing become adapted to its habitat?
It becomes adapted over a very long period of time. If small changes that occur naturally between generations are useful, the living thing survives better than others of its kind and has more offspring. In this way useful features are passed on. A species of living things becomes adapted to a habitat by the useful features that are passed from parent to offspring over many generations.

How does a species get the features it needs to survive?
In every generation of a species there is variety. For example, some birds in a species have longer beaks than others. These birds are better able to reach insects hiding deep in the cracks in bark than the other birds. These longer beaked birds breed together and produce offspring with a range of longer beaks. Some off these beaks may be just a little longer and even better for pulling out insects. Birds with these beaks will be more likely to survive and breed. This length of beak is a useful adaptation and is passed on from one generation to the next.

How is a woodpecker adapted for feeding on an oak tree?
The woodpecker feeds on insects which burrow in the wood. It has the following adaptations to help it find food: The woodpecker has short, broad wings which allow it to twist and turn around the tree trunks as it flies through the wood. It has feet with two toes pointing upwards and two toes pointing downwards. Each toe is long and ends in a claw which helps the bird grip the bark tightly. The tail feathers are extra strong so the bird can press them against the bark for even more support. The woodpecker has a strong pointed beak which is used to chop its way through the wood like a person with an axe. The bird's skull is stronger than the skull of other birds so that it can stand the shock of its beak hitting the wood. When the woodpecker finds a tunnel made by an insect it sticks out its tongue. The end of its tongue has hooks which dig in to any insect in the tunnel, so that when the woodpecker pulls in its tongue the insect is dragged into the woodpecker's mouth.