What Living Things Need

Living things need food, water, air, and space to survive. Without these, they cannot live.

Animals live in habitats that give them what they need: food, water, shelter, and space. A fish lives in water, a bird lives in trees.

An ecosystem is all the living and non-living things in an area working together.

Baby animals need their parents to survive. Birds feed their chicks, and cats carry their kittens.

A habitat gives an animal food, water, shelter and space. A woodland gives a squirrel nuts to eat and branches to nest in; the same woodland would give a fish nothing at all.

A beaver dams a stream and makes a pond. Worms tunnel and let air into soil. Tree roots crack rock. Living things do not just fit their habitat — they change it, sometimes a great deal.

Scientists put animals into groups by what they have in common. Mammals have fur and feed their babies milk, birds have feathers, fish have gills and scales, and insects have six legs and three body parts.