Where do you live? You might say your house. But you also use your street, your yard, the park and the store. A wild animal uses a whole place like that, too. We call it a habitat.
Key idea
A habitat is the place where a plant or animal lives and finds the food, water and shelter it needs.
Why it works
A frog needs bugs to eat, water to keep its skin moist, and mud or plants to hide in. A pond has all of that. So the pond, and the land around it, is the frog's habitat.
Worked example: Let's think it through
A robin builds a nest in a tree. Is the nest its habitat?
- The nest is where it keeps its eggs and chicks.
- But it finds worms in the grass and water in puddles and streams.
- All of those places together are its habitat.
Answer: No. The nest is its home. The whole forest or yard is its habitat.
Common mistake
Children often think a habitat is just a house, like a nest or a burrow. A habitat is the whole place, with everything the animal uses there.
For the grown-up. Your backyard or a nearby park is a habitat. Make a list together of the living things you find there, and what each one might eat or hide in.