Question

Penguins are white from the front and black on the back. When they are swimming, they are at risk from predators both above and below the water. Their coloring helps them because their dark backs blend into the water as seen from above. From below, they are white and are difficult to see against the sky above the surface of the sea. Which of these best describes this characteristic?A. recombinationB. homeostasisC. mutationD. adaptation

Answer 1

When an animal has a feature that helps them to disguise, in this case specifically making the animal blend into the surroundings, this is called a camouflage. A camouflage is a result of a process by which, under the pressure of natural selection, a feature gets prevalent in a species in order to make this species more fitted to the environment. In this case, the penguins are safer in their environment with this feature. This process is called adaptation, and this is a camouflage adaptation.

Therefore, the correct answer is D. adaptation.