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Unit 12
Heredity and Adaptations
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| adaptation | a trait or characteristic that helps an organism survive |
| instincts | behaviors that an organism inherits and knows how to do without being taught |
| life cycle | the stages that a living thing passes through as it grows and changes |
| complete metamorphosis | a complex change that most insects undergo that includes larva and pupa stages |
| incomplete metamorphosis | development change in some insects in which a nymph hatches from an egg and gradually develops into an adult |
| inherited trait | characteristics passed from parents to their offspring |
| gene | the part of cells that controls or influences inherited traits such as hair color and eye color |
| dominant trait | a trait that appears only if an organism has one factor for that trait |
| recessive trait | a trait that appears only if an organism has two factors for that trait |
| innate behavior | a behavior an organism is born with |
| learned behavior | a behavior that an animal doesn't begin life with, but develops as a result of experience or by observing other animals |