Traits
Inherited and Acquired
by Shawnie Bremer
While you are reading this book you can use the coaches to help you. Pedro will read the book to you. Hali will be asking you questions about the pictures. Monty will ask questions to help you connect the content to yourself.
Traits are the physical characteristics of an organism. When you describe how something looks you are describing its traits.
Think about the traits of a penguin. A penguin is black and white, it has feathers, it has flippers for arms and it has very short legs with wide, flat feet.
There are two types of traits, inherited and acquired. Inherited traits are those that are there when you are born. Acquired traits are caused by the environment or other physical conditions.
Let's think about inherited traits for a moment. Inherited traits are those physical characteristics that you are born with. They are passed down to you from relatives. Some inherited traits are your hair color, eye color, your height, the shape of your face, if you have freckles or not, or even your shoe size.
Acquired traits are traits that you get after you are born. They are caused by environmental or physical conditions. Examples might be that you cut your leg and there is a scar there or maybe you were very sick and have lost your hearing or eyesight because of the illness. Perhaps there is a factory nearby that gives off pollution and you have asthma because of the air.
Now that you know about traits I want you to think about your own traits. What are they? Where do they come from? Are they inherited or acquired? Now you know why you and your cousin look so much alike.