What four basic things do all animals need to survive? Animals need food, shelter from weather and predators, water, and a place to raise young.

Many animals have developed specific parts of the body adapted to survival in a certain environment. Among them are webbed feet, sharp claws, whiskers, sharp teeth, large beaks, wings, and hooves. In most aquatic animals, swimming is a must. To aid swimming, many animals have adapted and evolved with webbed feet.

Georgia contains a rich panoply of mammalian wildlife, including rodents, bats, hares, deer, wild boar, goats (both wild and domesticated), and carnivores (like weasels, raccoons, and foxes). Common birds include eagles, hawks, falcons, ducks, plovers, larks, warblers, sparrows, and finches.

1. Animals get the energy they need from food they eat. Every living thing needs energy to perform the basic processes of life—such as growing, repairing, and reproducing. Plants take in light energy from the Sun and turn it into food energy that they can use when they need it.

The primary source of energy for animals is carbohydrates, primarily glucose: the body’s fuel. The digestible carbohydrates in an animal’s diet are converted to glucose molecules and into energy through a series of catabolic chemical reactions. Adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is the primary energy currency in cells.

Animal Movements Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores have to move to find their food. Antelope herds keep moving to new areas to find fresh vegetation. These herds also need to be able to run fast in order to avoid predators, such as the lion.

Animals drink and eat food to obtain the matter and energy they need for their life processes. An organism that makes its own food is called a producer. Plants are able to use the energy from sunlight to produce sugars, which are a source of energy and matter. On the other hand, an animal cannot make its own food.

Animals are a source of energy-rich food even after they die. They get their energy from rotting flesh, just as we get energy from the food we eat. Scavengers break down the tissues of dead animals, releasing nutrients that would otherwise remain trapped inside.

Most, if not all plants are producers, and they make their own food using sunlight and raw materials, through a process called “photosynthesis”. Plants get their energy in form of starch whereas animals get it in form of glycogen.

When animals eat food, they get carbon in the form of carbohydrates and proteins. In animals, oxygen combines with food in the cells to produce energy for daily activity and then gives off carbon.

Carbon cycle explains the movement of carbon between the earth’s biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. Carbon atoms are then released as carbon dioxide when organisms respire. The formation of fossil fuels and sedimentary rocks contribute to the carbon cycle for very long periods.

The Carbon Cycle

• Carbon moves from the atmosphere to plants.
• Carbon moves from plants to animals.
• Carbon moves from plants and animals to soils.
• Carbon moves from living things to the atmosphere.
• Carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuels are burned.
• Carbon moves from the atmosphere to the oceans.

The carbon cycle describes how carbon transfers between different reservoirs located on Earth. This cycle is important for maintaining a stable climate and carbon balance on Earth.

Carbon is stored on our planet in the following major sinks (1) as organic molecules in living and dead organisms found in the biosphere; (2) as the gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; (3) as organic matter in soils; (4) in the lithosphere as fossil fuels and sedimentary rock deposits such as limestone, dolomite and …

Human activities have a tremendous impact on the carbon cycle. Burning fossil fuels, changing land use, and using limestone to make concrete all transfer significant quantities of carbon into the atmosphere.