“Mammal Adaptation” Discovery Education Video Transcript
An adaptation is a change that an animal goes through to have a better chance for survival. A good example of adaptation and change is the horse. The first horses were no larger than a typical dog. They had short legs, and lived in forested areas, where they needed to run quickly through the woods with sharp turns, and under fallen trees. Then, as horses moved out to open fields to find food, they changed to longer legs to be able to outrun other animals that threatened them. Adaptation takes a long time. In the case of the horse, it took millions of years for the length of the legs to change. Longer legs gave the horse the opportunity to run fast in open areas.