Animals & Nature · Unit 13
Migration, Hibernation and Survival
Journeys, deep sleep, camouflage and living in extremes
Animals facing a season they cannot survive have three options: leave, sleep through it, or change enough to endure it. This unit covers all three.
It covers the great migrations and how animals navigate them, hibernation and torpor, camouflage and mimicry, and the extremophiles that live where nothing should.
This unit breaks down into 20 short steps and 120 questions, starting at difficulty 2 and building to 4. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.
- Steps
- 20
- Questions
- 120
- Difficulty
- 2-4
What this unit covers
- Hibernation and Torpor
- Surviving Extremes
- Camouflage and Mimicry
- Finding the Way
- Great Migrations
Where this fits
Follows Habitats and Homes and Animal Behaviour.
Where people slip
Hibernation is not deep sleep. Body temperature, heart rate and metabolism all drop dramatically, and a hibernating animal cannot simply be woken.
How the unit is structured
Migration, Hibernation and Survival runs as 20 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 2 and climb to 4 as you progress.
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 120 in the unit altogether.
Camouflage and Mimicry
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
1. What is camouflage?
- Blending in with the surroundingscorrect
- Making loud noises
- Running fast
- Growing horns
Colours and patterns that help an animal blend into its surroundings.
- Odd one outLevel 2
2. Which of these is NOT a way of hiding?
- Roaring loudlycorrect
- Matching the colour of leaves
- Staying very still
- Burying in sand
Roaring loudly draws attention rather than hiding.
- True or falseLevel 2
3. A chameleon can change the colour of its skin.
Answer: True
True, though it is often about mood and temperature as well as hiding.
- Type the answerLevel 2
4. Which insect looks exactly like a twig?
Answer: stick insect
A stick insect is almost invisible on a branch.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
5. Which help animals avoid being eaten? Pick all that apply.
- Camouflagecorrect
- Playing deadcorrect
- Warning colourscorrect
- Singing loudly to predators
Camouflage, playing dead, warning colours and speed all help.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
6. Which are anti-predator defences? Pick all that apply.
- Toxic chemicalscorrect
- Shedding a tail to escapecorrect
- Sudden startling eye spotscorrect
- Approaching predators slowly
Chemical defences, armour, autotomy and startle displays all deter predators.
Finding the Way
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
7. Which clues help animals navigate? Pick all that apply.
- The position of the Suncorrect
- The magnetic fieldcorrect
- Familiar smellscorrect
- Traffic lights
The Sun, magnetism, smell and landmarks are all used.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
8. How do salmon find the river where they were born?
- By smellcorrect
- By reading signs
- By following boats
- By counting rocks
They recognise the smell of their home stream.
- True or falseLevel 2
9. Some animals can sense the magnetic field of the Earth.
Answer: True
True. Birds, turtles and some fish use it to navigate.
- Type the answerLevel 2
10. Which star helps night-flying birds find north?
Answer: Pole Star
The Pole Star stays almost fixed in the northern sky.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
11. What do homing pigeons do?
- Find their way home from far awaycorrect
- Sleep all winter
- Swim across rivers
- Change colour
They can find their way home from places they have never been.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
12. Which navigation cues have been demonstrated in animals? Pick all that apply.
- Magnetic fieldscorrect
- Star patternscorrect
- Polarised lightcorrect
- Satellite navigation devices
Magnetic fields, star patterns, polarised light and odours are all used.
Great Migrations
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
13. Which animals migrate? Pick all that apply.
- Geesecorrect
- Humpback whalescorrect
- Monarch butterfliescorrect
- Garden snails crossing continents
Birds, whales and some butterflies all make long journeys.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
14. Why do many birds fly south for the winter?
- To find warmth and foodcorrect
- To avoid the sea
- To grow feathers
- To learn new songs
They follow warmer weather and food that is no longer available in the cold.
- Picture questionLevel 2
15. 🦢 Which bird is famous for flying in a V shape when migrating?
- The goosecorrect
- The penguin
- The ostrich
- The chicken
Geese fly in a V to save energy on long journeys.
- True or falseLevel 2
16. Some whales travel thousands of kilometres between feeding and breeding areas.
Answer: True
True. Humpbacks feed in cold seas and breed in warm ones.
- Type the answerLevel 2
17. What word describes animals travelling the same route every year?
Answer: migration
Migration happens on a regular schedule.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
18. Which are risks of migration? Pick all that apply.
- Exhaustion and starvationcorrect
- Severe weathercorrect
- Loss of stopover habitatcorrect
- Having too much food
Exhaustion, storms, predators and habitat loss along the route all threaten migrants.
Hibernation and Torpor
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
19. Which animals hibernate or go dormant in winter? Pick all that apply.
- Dormousecorrect
- Batcorrect
- Tortoisecorrect
- Robin
Dormice, bats and tortoises all become dormant.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
20. What is hibernation?
- A deep winter rest with a slowed bodycorrect
- A long journey
- A summer feast
- A colour change
A deep winter sleep in which the body slows down to save energy.
- True or falseLevel 2
21. Hibernating animals often eat a lot in autumn to build up fat.
Answer: True
True. Stored fat fuels them through the winter.
- Type the answerLevel 2
22. What is the long winter sleep of a dormouse called?
Answer: hibernation
Hibernation lowers body temperature and heart rate.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
23. Why do animals hibernate?
- Because food is scarce in wintercorrect
- Because they are bored
- Because it is too warm
- To grow taller
Food is scarce in winter, so slowing down saves the energy they cannot replace.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
24. Which physiological puzzles does hibernation raise? Pick all that apply.
- Avoiding blood clots at low flowcorrect
- Preventing muscle wastagecorrect
- Protecting the brain during rewarmingcorrect
- Growing new limbs
Avoiding clots, preserving muscle, protecting the brain and restarting normally are all studied.
Surviving Extremes
- Build the sentenceLevel 2
25. Build a sentence about winter survival.
Answer: Some animals sleep all winter to save energy
Some animals sleep all winter to save energy.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
26. What helps a camel cope with desert life?
- It stores fat and copes with little watercorrect
- It stores water in its hump directly
- It never eats
- It hibernates in summer
It stores fat in its hump and can go a long time without drinking.
- Put in orderLevel 2
27. Put these steps of preparing for winter in order.
Answer: Eat extra food in autumn -> Find or build a shelter -> Body slows down -> Sleep through the cold
Animals eat, build a shelter, slow down and sleep.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
28. Which help animals lose heat? Pick all that apply.
- Pantingcorrect
- Large thin earscorrect
- Resting in shadecorrect
- Thick blubber
Panting, large ears, sweating and seeking shade all shed heat.
- Fact or fibLevel 3
29. Climate change is shifting the timing of many animal migrations.
Answer: True
True, and mismatches with food supply can follow.
- Sort into groupsLevel 3
30. Sort each strategy by the season it helps with.
Answer: Hibernating = Cold season; Growing a thicker coat = Cold season; Being active only at night = Hot season; Aestivating in mud = Hot season
Different problems call for different solutions.
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
- Multiple choice
- Odd one out
- Picture question
- Put in order
- Sort into groups
- True or false
- Type the answer
Practise Migration, Hibernation and Survival
120 questions across 20 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.
Play this unitRead about Migration, Hibernation and Survival
Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.
- What Is Hibernation?How animals survive winter by slowing their bodies almost to a stop, and why bears are not textbook hibernators.August 28, 2026 · 6 min read
- How Does Camouflage Work in Animals?The main strategies, from blending in to disruptive patterns and mimicry, and how some species change colour at will.August 28, 2026 · 6 min read
- How Do Salmon Find Their Way Home? Smell, Magnetism and MemoryAfter years at sea, a salmon returns to the stream it hatched in. The magnetic map to the coast, the smell that leads upriver, and why it bothers.September 14, 2026 · 4 min read
- How Does an Octopus Change Colour? Skin That Thinks for ItselfAn octopus can match a rock in under a second without seeing colour. The pigment sacs in its skin, the nerves that drive them, and the puzzle of how it chooses.September 14, 2026 · 4 min read
More units in Animals & Nature
- What Is an Animal?What makes something an animal, and what every animal needs
- Pets and Farm AnimalsThe animals we live and work with, and how to care for them
- Animal GroupsMammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and creatures without backbones
- Habitats and HomesWhere animals live, from rainforest to polar ice, and the homes they build
- Baby Animals and FamiliesEggs and live young, animal parents, and growing up
- What Animals EatDiets, teeth, hunting, and how energy flows through a food chain
- MammalsFur, milk and warm blood, from bats and whales to big cats
- BirdsFeathers, beaks, flight and song across the bird world