Animals and plants look like their parents. A red fox’s young will be reddish-colored like their parents. They each will have a fluffy tail with a white tip. They will have long, pointed ears and a pointed snout. They will have black socks, sharp teeth and claws. Each of those things about a red fox are called its traits.
Animals and plants get their traits from their parents. They inherit them. (This is called inheritance of traits.) Plants inherit traits too. A daisy inherits its yellow center, white petals and long stems from its parent plants.
Even though baby animals and plants get their traits from their parents, they do not look exactly like their parents. Beagle puppies may look like their parents with the same floppy ears and long tail, but they may have many differences too. They may have different colored or shaped spots. They may have smaller ears or a shorter tail. (This is called a variation of traits.)
In the same way, a group of the same kind of animals, called a population, may look alike but have many differences among them. For example, a herd of caribou may all have large antlers, big hooves and a thick coat of brown fur, but not all the caribou will be exactly the same. Some caribou may have bigger antlers or bigger feed or a lighter colored fur. (This is another example of the variation of traits.)
