Knowledge Organiser – Evolution and Inheritance (Year 6)
Key Vocabulary What is evolution? Fossils
Evolution describes the gradual changes that happen After an animal dies, the soft parts of its
body decompose leaving the hard parts, like
in the same species, living in the same location, over
Evolution Adaptation over a very long time. the skeleton. This becomes buried by small
a long time. Scientists have proof that living things
particles of rock called sediment. As more
are continuously evolving – even today!
Natural The process where living things layers of sediment build up on top, the
that are better adapted to their Evolution does not describe people changing their sediment around the skeleton begins to
Selection
environment tend to survive and bodies by exercise or dyeing their hair. Evolution compact and turn to rock. The bones then
produce more offspring. start to be dissolved by water seeping
happens over a much longer time and can only
through the rock. Minerals in the water
The remains or impression of a happen between parents and offspring through
replace the bone, leaving a rock replica of
Fossil prehistoric plant or animal inheritance.
the original bone called a fossil.
embedded in a rock.
Researchers and scientists have been able to
An adaptation is a trait changing to use the fossils they have discovered to find
Adaptation increase a living thing’s chances of out about different animals, their
surviving and reproducing.
characteristics and how they have changed
over the years.
Inherited These are the traits that you get
from your parents. Families often Natural Selection
Traits have similar traits e.g. eye colour, Natural selection is the idea that species change
height or curly hair. over time in order to survive in their environment
and reproduce. As offspring are born, they have
Offspring A young animal or plant that is
the advantageous genetic characteristics passed on
produced by the reproduction of
from their parents. Over time, this is how species
that species.
adapt. Living things that are unable to adapt to the Galapagos Finches
The features or qualities that are changes in the environment are unlike to survive
Characteristics
specific to a particular species. When bad weather affected plant growth and there
Fossils of giraffes from millions of years ago show
were fewer seeds to eat, the offspring had to eat
The differences between that they used to have shorter necks. They have larger seeds that would not normally be part of their
Variations individuals in the same species. gradually evolved through natural selection to diet in order to survive. Only the offspring with large
have longer necks so that they can reach the top beaks could break open and eat the larger seeds.
This is when characteristics are leaves on taller trees. Therefore, these offspring survived and the other,
passed to offspring from their smaller beaked offspring died. Offspring inherited
Inheritance parents. large beaks and so Galapagos finch species started to
evolve and adapt.
Knowledge Organiser – Evolution and Inheritance (Year 6)
Offspring Living Things Habitat Adaptation
Its white fur enable it to camoflouge in
Animals and plants produce offspring (babies) that are similar but not the snow. It has thick layers of fat to keep
Polar Artic
identical to them. Offspring often look like their parents because warm and large feet to increase grip on
Bear
features are passed on. The particular mix of DNA that offspring inherit the snow.
from their parents is unique to them. 50% of the DNA comes from the Camels have large flat feet to spread their
mother and the other 50% comes from the father. Camel Desert weight on the sand. Two rows of
eyelashes to keep out the sand and the
ability to go a long time without water.
Stems can store large amounts of water
Cactus Desert and their very deep roots are able to
collect water. Spines also provide
protection from predators.
Inheritance and Variation Charles Darwin Mary Anning
Inheritance refers to the genes that are passed on from parents to Mary Anning was born on 21st May
offspring. When we talk about inherited characteristics, we tend to Charles Robert Darwin was a naturalist 1799 and lived all her life in Lyme Regis
focus on physical characteristics, such as eye colour or skin colour, as who was born on February 12th, 1809, in Dorset (England). Mary is recognised
these are easy to spot, but inherited characteristics include abilities in Shropshire, England. He died in 1882 as a pioneer in the field
such as taste and smell. Characteristics are inherited from both
at the age of 73. Darwin is famous for of palaeontology (the study of fossils)
parents but the way they combine creates variations, making the
travelling the world, investigating what and is celebrated as the greatest fossil
offspring unique. For example, humans may get blue eyes from our
Mum, but brown hair from our Dad. makes animals and plants different and hunter of all time! In 1811, at the age of
introducing the Theory of Evolution. 12, Mary discovered an ancient species,
named Ichthyosaurus – meaning ‘fish
Darwin wrote a book called ‘On the
The inherited characteristics can combine in different ways, which is lizard‘. She also discovered a Plesiosaur
Origin of Species’ in 1859. In it, he
the reason why siblings (brothers and sisters) inherit the same skeleton (long necked sea creature) and
explained his Theory of Evolution by
characteristics but are not identical to each other. Even identical twins a Pterodactyl (flying reptile). Mary died
Natural Selection.
that share the exact same combination of DNA are not 100% the in 1847 at the age of 47.
same.