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Introduction to ecosystems
Introduction to ecosystems

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2.4 Life in trees

Figure _unit2.5.1 Figure 5

In considering food chains in an oak wood you saw animals adapted to a life in trees. Mammals that live in trees show a range of adaptations that make them well suited to the arboreal lifestyle.

Woods and forests present a number of problems for mammals that inhabit them. The habitat stretches vertically for a substantial distance yet for tree-dwellers to travel any horizontal distance they must either go down to the ground each time, or jump from sometimes flimsy branches over large gaps. Sir David Attenborough describes how squirrels have overcome the problem.

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