Incredible Facts
Select topics from the contents below to find out some fascinating and incredible facts about them!
- Animal senses
- Are you Paying Attention?
- Computer Science Unplugged
- Captain Cook's First New Zealand Voyage
- Captain Cook's Second New Zealand Voyage
- Crystals
- Glassblowers
- Incredible Vision
- Incredibly Boney Bones
- Life on the Rocky Shore is Hard!
- Light Metals Transporting the World
- Life on Mars
- Why did the Moa grow so large?
- What is Colour Blindness?
- Slime
- Sport and Exercise
- The Internet
- Antarctica
Life on the Rocky Shore is Hard!
Each day rocky shore animals are battered by the waves as tide comes in, they are exposed to the wind and air as tide goes out, and they have to deal with sharp changes in temperature and salinity, not to mention the land based predators they have to avoid.
How do they do it?
The animals that live on the rocky shore must have many special features to help them survive. The special features that animals have to help them survive within their environment are called adaptations.
| Physical adaptations include | Behavioural adaptations include |
|---|---|
| Waterproof shells eg snails and Chitons | Mobile animals stop moving when exposed eg snails and Chitons |
| Shells have spare space inside for holding water eg Cats eyes, Periwinkles | They clamp their shells tight against the rock eg Cats eyes, Whelks |
| Shells have neat fit to rock or tightly closing openings eg Chitons, Limpets | Many move to wet, moist or shaded retreats as tide falls eg they move into rock pools |
| Snail shells have smooth shapes that reduce turbulent airflow and thereby lessen water loss eg Nerita, Melagraphia. | Fixed animals close their shell openings or plug them tight eg Barnacles, Oysters, Mussels. |