Habitats

A habitat is the environment where living organisms exist, including plants and animals. A habitat can be large or small. It can be an entire continent, or the space under a rock. Habitats contain many different kinds of organisms living together, as well as the non-living things that exist in the habitat. A person's bed is not a living thing, but it is part of their habitat.

There are a wide range of habitats throughout the world. A grassland is full of tall growing grass containing very few trees. Grasslands are found on every continent except the Antarctica. Sometimes grasslands are also referred to as prairies, which need less rainfall than a savanna, which is another kind of grassland. Animals found on grasslands may include aardvarks, antelopes, ants, brown bears, squirrels, rabbits, lions, turkeys, hippos, and many others.

A desert is extremely dry, receives lots of sunshine, gets less than 6 inches of rain a year, and has very few plants. Deserts can be hot or cold, sometimes reaching below freezing during the nighttime. Animals found in the desert include lizards, camels, rhinoceros, tarantulas, kangaroos, and several more.

A rainforest receives rain all year long, and a seasonal forest, has a rainy season and a dry season. Both, though, receive more than 8 feet of rain a year. There are more animals living in these tropical forests than all of the other habitats put together. Many animals live there, including anacondas, baboons, bats, geckos, monkeys, tigers, toucans, tortoises, ladybugs, elephants, centipedes, and crocodiles.

A temperate forest either has trees that lose their leaves in the winter or remain green all year long, and are located in many areas of the U.S. and are located on most continents. Climates can range from cold to hot. Some of the animals living there include chipmunks, deer, elk, fox, squirrels, and wolves.

A coniferous forest is where the tallest trees in the world grow and can also survive the extreme cold. Many animals may make their home there, too, including eagles, elk, owls, raccoons, tigers, weasels, wasps, worms, and giant pandas.

On mountains, the plant and animal life changes because the climate is much cooler, and there is less oxygen. A few of those animals include badgers, beavers, buzzards, fox, iguana, red pandas, wombats, wrens, and gorillas.

In polar regions it is the coldest place in the world, and the land is partly frozen. There are two polar regions, the Arctic of the North, and the Antarctic in the South. Animals living in polar regions may include caribou, owls, walrus, whales, and coyotes.

Two other habitats include freshwater, such as lakes, rivers, wetlands, and swamps, and saltwater oceans, which also consist of the coastline and the coral reef habitats. Freshwater habitats are found nearly everywhere and include many reptiles, fish, and birds. The ocean is the largest animal habitat on Earth; some parts still remain unexplored. Animals in the ocean include lobsters, orcas, seals, and many more; some also live on the coast like sea lions and seals. Coral reefs are usually located in the tropics where it is warm and there is lots of sunshine. The reefs need the sunshine to survive in the shallow water. Reef animals include crabs, eels, clams, angelfish and others.

As you can see, there are habitats all over the world, and some animals live in more than one habitat. Remember, a habitat can be located under a rock as a home for a worm; or it can be the huge ocean, a home for a whale.