Animals & Nature · Unit 4

Habitats and Homes

Where animals live, from rainforest to polar ice, and the homes they build

A habitat is not scenery. It is a set of conditions an animal is adapted to, and moving an animal out of it usually kills it fairly quickly.

The unit covers the major habitat types - forest, desert, grassland, polar, mountain and aquatic - and the homes animals build within them, from nests to burrows to dens.

This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 108 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 18
Questions: 108
Difficulty: 1-3

What this unit covers

Rivers, Lakes and Oceans
Nests, Burrows and Dens
Deserts and Grasslands
Polar and Mountain Homes
Forests and Woodlands

Where this fits

Follows Animal Groups. Ecosystems and Biodiversity takes it further.

Where people slip

A habitat and a home are different things. The habitat is the whole environment an animal lives in; the home is the specific structure it occupies within it.

How the unit is structured

Habitats and Homes runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 18 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 108 in the unit altogether.

Deserts and Grasslands

True or falseLevel 1
1. Many desert animals come out at night when it is cooler.
Answer: True
True. Being active at night avoids the fierce daytime heat.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
2. Which are grassland habitats? Pick all that apply.
- Savannacorrect
- Prairiecorrect
- Steppecorrect
- Coral reef
Savanna, prairie and steppe are all grasslands.
Fact or fibLevel 2
3. Some deserts are cold rather than hot.
Answer: True
True. A desert is defined by how little rain falls, not by heat.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
4. How is a desert officially defined?
- By very low annual rainfallcorrect
- By high daytime heat only
- By having sand
- By having no animals
By very low rainfall, usually under about 250 millimetres a year.
Type the answerLevel 2
5. What word describes an animal that is active at night?
Answer: nocturnal
Nocturnal animals avoid daytime heat and predators.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
6. Which adaptations reduce water loss? Pick all that apply.
- Producing concentrated urinecorrect
- Waterproof skin or scalescorrect
- Being active at nightcorrect
- Panting constantly in the sun
Concentrated urine, waterproof skin and nocturnal habits all conserve water.

Forests and Woodlands

True or falseLevel 1
7. Squirrels and owls live in woodlands.
Answer: True
True. Trees give them food and safe places to nest.
Fill the blankLevel 2
8. Very tall trees that poke out above the rainforest canopy form the ____ layer.
- emergentcorrect
- emergency
- eastern
- empty
Emergent trees catch the most sunlight and wind.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
9. Why is deadwood important in a forest?
- It feeds and shelters many species as it rotscorrect
- It blocks all growth
- It has no ecological value
- It prevents fires entirely
It provides food and homes for fungi, insects, birds and mammals as it decays.
Picture questionLevel 2
10. 🌳 Which habitat does this picture show?
- A forestcorrect
- A desert
- An ocean
- A city
Trees together make a forest habitat.
Type the answerLevel 2
11. What is the cold northern forest of conifers, stretching across Canada and Russia, called?
Answer: taiga
The taiga, or boreal forest, is the largest land biome.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
12. Which factors define a biome? Pick all that apply.
- Temperature rangecorrect
- Rainfall patterncorrect
- Dominant vegetationcorrect
- Country borders
Temperature, rainfall and the resulting vegetation define biomes.

Nests, Burrows and Dens

Choose all that applyLevel 1
13. Which are animal homes? Pick all that apply.
- A fox's dencorrect
- A bird's nestcorrect
- A spider's webcorrect
- A car park
Dens, nests and webs are all homes animals make.
Match the pairsLevel 1
14. Match each animal to its home.
Answer: Rabbit = Burrow; Bee = Hive; Spider = Web; Beaver = Lodge
Animals build very different homes to suit their needs.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
15. Build a sentence about where animals live.
Answer: A habitat gives food and shelter
A habitat gives an animal food and shelter.
Fact or fibLevel 2
16. Protecting habitat is usually the most effective way to protect species.
Answer: True
True. Without habitat, no other measure can sustain a population.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
17. What is habitat fragmentation?
- Habitat broken into isolated patchescorrect
- Habitat becoming larger
- A type of nest building
- Seasonal flooding
Continuous habitat is broken into isolated patches, often by roads or farmland.
Sort into groupsLevel 2
18. Sort each animal by where it makes its home.
Answer: Mole = Underground; Rabbit = Underground; Eagle = High up; Swallow = High up
Homes match the habitat and the animal's abilities.

Polar and Mountain Homes

Choose all that applyLevel 1
19. Which help animals live in very cold places? Pick all that apply.
- Thick furcorrect
- A layer of blubbercorrect
- Small earscorrect
- Thin bare skin
Thick fur, blubber and small ears all reduce heat loss.
Type the answerLevel 1
20. What thick layer of fat keeps whales and seals warm in icy water?
Answer: blubber
Blubber traps heat like a coat.
Fact or fibLevel 2
21. Antarctic food webs depend heavily on tiny shrimp-like krill.
Answer: True
True. Krill feed whales, seals, penguins and fish.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
22. Why does sea ice matter so much for Arctic wildlife?
- It is a platform for hunting, resting and breeding
- It provides drinking water only
- It blocks all life
- It has no role
It is a hunting platform, resting place and nursery, and its algae feed the food web.
True or falseLevel 2
23. Some Arctic and Antarctic fish produce antifreeze proteins in their blood.
Answer: True
True. These proteins stop ice crystals growing.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
24. Which adaptations suit cold habitats? Pick all that apply.
- Thick insulating layerscorrect
- Compact body shape with small extremitiescorrect
- Countercurrent blood circulationcorrect
- Large thin ears
Insulation, compact body shape and countercurrent circulation all conserve heat.

Rivers, Lakes and Oceans

Choose all that applyLevel 2
25. Which are freshwater habitats? Pick all that apply.
- Rivercorrect
- Lakecorrect
- Pondcorrect
- Coral reef
Rivers, lakes and ponds all hold fresh water.
Fill the blankLevel 2
26. Trees that grow in salty coastal mud with tangled roots are ____.
- mangrovescorrect
- conifers
- cacti
- ferns
Mangroves cope with salt and shifting tides.
True or falseLevel 2
27. Hydrothermal vent communities are powered by chemicals rather than sunlight.
Answer: True
True. Bacteria use chemosynthesis to make food from vent chemicals.
Type the answerLevel 2
28. What are the tiny drifting plants and animals at the base of ocean food chains called?
Answer: plankton
Plankton feed everything from small fish to the biggest whales.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
29. What does marine snow consist of?
- Falling organic particles that feed the deepcorrect
- Frozen sea spray
- Salt crystals
- Volcanic ash
A steady fall of organic particles from the sunlit surface, feeding deep sea life.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
30. Which challenges do intertidal animals face? Pick all that apply.
- Drying out at low tidecorrect
- Powerful wavescorrect
- Rapid temperature changescorrect
- Permanent darkness
Drying out, wave force and rapid temperature and salinity change all occur.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 10 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Picture question
Sort into groups
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Habitats and Homes

108 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

More units in Animals & Nature

See all 18 units in Animals & Nature →