WEBVTT 00:00:02.430 --> 00:00:08.000 The okapi, pictured below, is an animal native to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa. 00:00:08.490 --> 00:00:13.290 Imagine an okapi is taken from its natural habitat and placed in Antarctica. 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.310 What is most likely to happen? 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:20.610 (A) It will quickly develop new adaptations for this habitat to survive. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:26.260 (B) It will become a dominant predator and upset the ecosystem of the Antarctic. 00:00:26.650 --> 00:00:31.200 Or (C) it will not be adapted for this new habitat and will not survive. 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:38.720 This question is asking about the likely outcome of placing an animal in an environment that it is not adapted for. 00:00:39.380 --> 00:00:45.790 To answer this question, let’s review some key facts about adaptation and the importance of it for the survival of organisms. 00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:48.870 But what do we mean by the term “adaptation?” 00:00:50.220 --> 00:00:58.090 An adaptation is a characteristic that an organism has in order to make it well suited to its environment and give it a better chance of survival. 00:00:58.910 --> 00:01:04.270 These adaptations develop over many generations and can take thousands of years to occur. 00:01:05.330 --> 00:01:14.130 An example of an adaptation is the way a chameleon has developed the ability to change the color of its skin to hide from predators and also reflect its mood. 00:01:14.470 --> 00:01:16.900 This type of adaptation is called camouflage. 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.850 Camouflage is an adaptation that helps an organism conceal itself by blending in with its surroundings. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:32.620 So what adaptations does an okapi have for the environment it lives in and will these adaptations enable it to survive in Antarctica? 00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:38.140 Okapi are mammals related to giraffes, with a long neck and large ears. 00:01:39.130 --> 00:01:43.100 They are herbivores, feeding on leaves, fruit, grasses, and fungi. 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:53.380 They have therefore evolved teeth that are adapted to cut the foliage of its diet and a long black tongue which, along with the long neck, is useful for reaching buds and leaves in the trees. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:59.740 They live in rainforests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is hot and humid all year round. 00:02:00.590 --> 00:02:03.680 Their thick, oily fur helps to keep them dry in the rain. 00:02:04.050 --> 00:02:14.110 The color of their coat works well as camouflage, as the brown blends in with the trees and the wavy stripes on its hind quarters and legs mimic streaks of sunlight coming through the trees. 00:02:15.020 --> 00:02:18.480 As they are herbivores, they are prey to carnivores in the forest. 00:02:18.510 --> 00:02:27.610 So their eyes are adapted to be able to see well at night, and they have good hearing and a good sense of smell — three very important adaptations to detect predators. 00:02:28.530 --> 00:02:31.940 So would the okapi be able to survive in Antarctica? 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:37.030 Well, first of all let’s look at the differences between the two environments. 00:02:37.330 --> 00:02:41.600 Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest continent on Earth. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:46.850 And 98 percent of it is covered in ice, which means there is little vegetation. 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:54.470 The ice is covered in snow, so the okapi would stand out clearly in its brown coat and be vulnerable to predators. 00:02:55.210 --> 00:03:04.230 Where Congo is hot, averaging around 26 degrees C, Antarctica averages around minus 50 degrees C, which is very cold. 00:03:04.940 --> 00:03:15.830 The thick oily fur would be useful, but because the okapi is adapted to a warm climate, it does not have the thick insulating layer of fat essential to animals living in such extreme temperatures. 00:03:16.590 --> 00:03:20.660 The shortage of vegetation means there would be very little food for the okapi. 00:03:20.940 --> 00:03:26.500 If there is little food, the okapi would not be able to lay down a layer of insulating fat to keep it warm. 00:03:26.700 --> 00:03:29.180 And it would not have enough energy to survive. 00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:33.260 We now have enough information to answer our question. 00:03:33.480 --> 00:03:35.750 So let’s have another look at the answer options. 00:03:36.830 --> 00:03:45.590 Option (A) suggests that if the okapi was moved to Antarctica, then it would quickly develop new adaptations for this habitat to survive. 00:03:46.330 --> 00:03:54.660 The cold, windy, dry environment of Antarctica is completely opposite to the okapi’s natural habitat of the warm rainforests. 00:03:55.500 --> 00:04:08.450 This means the okapi would have to develop many adaptations very quickly to survive, such as a change in coat color for camouflage, thick insulating fat, and a digestive system that could cope with a different diet. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:13.280 If it didn’t manage to develop these adaptations quickly, it would die. 00:04:14.290 --> 00:04:20.870 Unfortunately, adaptations take an extremely long time to occur, often taking millions of years. 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:26.700 Developing new adaptations certainly does not happen quickly, so we can rule out option (A). 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:33.840 Option (B) suggests that the okapi will become a dominant predator and upset the ecosystem of the Antarctic. 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:38.210 Okapi are herbivores and so only eat plant matter. 00:04:38.440 --> 00:04:42.160 This means they are not predators, and we can rule out this option. 00:04:42.910 --> 00:04:46.060 This leaves us with the correct answer, option (C). 00:04:47.060 --> 00:04:57.730 If an okapi is taken from its natural habitat and placed in Antarctica, the thing that is most likely to happen is it will not be adapted for this new habitat and will not survive.