This presentation describes about adaptations of a roadrunner.

1. Presented and produced by:
M. Ahmad Waseem

2. Adaptations:
An adaptation is a body part, physical feature or a
behavior that helps an organism in order to survive in
a particular environment . There are two types of
adaptations; physical adaptations and behavorial
adaptations. They help an animal to breathe, catch
food or hide.
E.g: A rabbit is adapted to running fast and escaping
predators.

3. Physical Adaptations:
 They are a part of the body of the organism;
 They are present throughout the life of the organism.
E.g: Lions and tigers have sharp claws to kill prey.
Behavorial adaptations:
 Allows animals to respond to life needs;
 They are not present throughout the life of the organism.
E.g: Grizzly bears ,who live in forests, hibernate in order to
survive the cold winter.

4. A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs
and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and
animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected
surface of the ground to the processes of denudation(erosion
of earth’s surface). About one third of the land surface of the
world is arid or semi-arid. A desert is usually composed of
sand dunes and the only vegetation are those which survive
with little or no water like cactus and shrubs.

5. Roadrunners -- two bird species in the Geococcyx
genus and members of the cuckoo family,
Cuculidae -- inhabit desert and scrub areas of the
southwestern United States, where they feed and
build nests in scattered brush and grasses. Their
harsh living environments are responsible for some
of the adaptations that help roadrunners survive.
These adaptations include:

6. 
Sunshine Safeguard:
During the day, roadrunners combat the scorching desert heat by
decreasing their activity by 50 percent. Instead of using energy
for hunting when then sun is at its hottest, for instance, these
birds rest in the shade of a quiet shrub. Overnight, as
temperatures drop, roadrunners' body temperatures decrease 7
degrees as the birds go into states of torpor, whereby they
suppress their metabolism to reserve energy and prevent
additional heat loss to their environment. As the sun comes up
in the morning, the birds lift up patches of feathers on their
backs, exposing their heavily pigmented skin. This skin acts as
solar panels to absorb heat and increase their body
temperatures.

7. 
Water Acquisition:
In the desert, supplies of water are not always available.
Roadrunners evolved a method of hunting to ensure they have
access to water even when there is none available:
Roadrunners are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they eat
both plant and animal matter. Plant matter they consume
includes seeds from grass, milkweed and nightshade plans,
sumac berries and prickly pear cactus. Plant matter is more
commonly consumed by roadrunners in the winter when
animal prey are scarce. Animal prey includes large insects,
spiders, scorpions, snakes, mice and lizards. These food items
provide roadrunners with the water content and energy they
need to survive.

8. Reuse and Recycle:
Roadrunners adapted another essential means of retaining water:
While digesting meals, they absorb excess water from their
feces before excreting it. Roadrunners have small and large
intestines. As omnivores, they have longer and more coiled
small intestines than birds who are carnivores. Their small
intestines are lined with villi, fingerlike projections that
increase the surface area of the intestines and absorb water
through blood vessels. Since the food of omnivore birds has a
longer distance to travel than food in carnivores, more water is
swept up by the villi and absorbed into the bloodstream.


9. 
On the Run:

Despite their respectable wingspans -- they average 19 inches
-- roadrunners can stay airborne for only several seconds at a
time. These birds therefore walk and run much more than they
fly. They have zygodactylous feet, which consist of two toes
facing frontward and two toes facing backward per foot.
Roadrunners can run at speeds up to an impressive 17 miles
per hour. They need to be able to run quickly to hunt and to
escape predators such as skunks, house cats, raccoons, coyotes
and hawks.

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Animals.pawnation.com
Wikipedia.com
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