Animal Habitats - Science Lessons for Grade 5 Students

All organisms need a place to live. The place that an organism inhabits is called a habitat. A habitat provides the organisms that live there with all the things they need to stay alive.

The frog below, for example, lives in a pond habitat. The pond provides the frog with air, food and water it needs to stay alive. It also provides the frog with protection from other animals and a safe place to reproduce and care for its young.

A tropical rainforest habitat

A rainforest that receives a high rainfall and grows in a tropical region is called a tropical rain forest. These forests are found near the Equator, which is an imaginary line encircling the globe dividing the northern and southern hemispheres. Typically, a rainforest is wet and warm.

Since tropical rainforests receive lots of rainfall all year round, these forests are suitable habitats for a great diversity of organisms. You can find different kinds of plants in the rainforests. These plants provide food and shelter for all kinds of animals. It is said that more than half of the world’s animals have the rainforest as their home. Vampire bats, anacondas, Bengal tigers, orangutans, chimpanzees, and a lot of smaller animals including dragonflies, tree frogs, and at least hundreds of species of ants live in different rainforests of the world.

A pond habitat

A pond habitat contains water all year round. A great variety of plants and animals depend on this water to stay alive. A pond habitat contains many different kinds of plants such as the water lily, duckweed and water hyacinth.

A pond habitat also contains many different kinds of animals such as fish, frogs, dragonflies and water boatmen. The pond provides these animals with a safe place to reproduce and care for their young.

A field habitat

A field habitat has many different kinds of plants and animals. Common plants include grasses such as love grass and clovers. Common animals in a field habitat include insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, bees and butterflies.

Other animals such as worms, ants and termites can be found in the soil.

A tropical coral leaf habitat

There are many different kinds of habitats in the ocean. A tropical coral reef habitat can be found in shallow, warm water.

Many different kinds of fish, such as clownfish, butterfly fish and eels live in a tropical coral reef habitat. There are also larger fish such as sharks and stingrays.

Many different kinds of animals without backbones also live in a tropical coral reef. There are lobsters, giant clams, squids and cuttlefish.

A desert habitat

Deserts are places that are very dry since they do not get much rain. They can be either very hot places, or very cold places.

Animals that live in the desert are adapted to conserve water and keep their body temperature at the right level. Both plants and animals have thus adapted to be able to live in the desert. Below given are some animals and plants that are typically found in the desert habitat.

Cactii

Brittle Bushes

Arabian Sand Gazelle

A mountain habitat

A mountain habitat is a living environment that is higher than the flat lands. There is not much soil on mountain tops since it is mostly rock. Coniferous trees such as pines and spruces are typically found on cold mountains. Animals that live in mountain habitats include black bear, mountain goats, wolves and elk.

Mountains typically are cold, and at the very top of tall mountains, it gets very cold. At the top of very high mountains such as Mount Everest, plants cannot live.

Ocean habitat

An ocean habitat is any sea or ocean. These water bodies contain salt water and there are many plants and animals living in this salt water. The ocean habitat is the biggest habitat on earth, as it covers about 70% of the surface of our planet. The temperatures in the oceans vary greatly - from freezing temperatures at the poles to tropical temperatures closer to the equator. The temperature also varies depending on how deep the ocean is. It is generally warmer closer to the surface.

Some animals that live in the ocean, such as the zooplankton, are so small that you need to view through a microscope to see them! There are big fish in oceans too, such as the great white sharks and the blue whale. Tiny algae called phytoplankton and bigger algae like seaweed and kelp also grow in the ocean and provide food and shelter for marine animals.