Adaptations

The organisms living in Georgia’s habitats are adapted to the conditions in which they live. An adaptation is any characteristic that helps a plant or animal survive. While some organisms, like squirrels, are adapted to survive in a wide range of habitats, others are more keenly adapted to the special conditions of their habitat. For example, while alligators thrive in the warm swamps of south Georgia, you will not see them in the north Georgia mountains where the water and weather is too cold for their survival.

Plants have specific features that allow them to live and thrive in different Georgia habitats. For example, palm trees thrive in the coastal habitats because of the warm tropical air. Also plants with thick, waxy leaves are better suited for habitats near the coast where they can easily repel the salt water spray. In the swamp and marsh habitats where there is a lot of moisture and soil, but few nutrients, many plants have unique features to help them survive. For example the sundew and pitcher plants capture insects to get the nutrients it needs to survive.

Animals have different external features, or body parts, that help them survive in specific habitats. For example, herons have long legs and wings perfect for standing in shallow water. They also have long, pointed bills to catch fish in Georgia’s marshes and swamps. The brown thrasher, commonly found in the Piedmont, has short wings that are well suited for hopping from one bush to another in search of insects. White-tailed deer, along with other animals in Georgia, will shed their thicker winter coat of fur as the temperatures get warmer. In the coastal plain, the gopher tortoise uses its flipper-like clawed feet to dig burrows in the sand. Alligators, found in the marshes and swamps of Georgia, use their thick tails to propel through the water.