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Modifications that help an animal survive. For example, a zebra's stripes helps them hide! from a lions teeth.

An adaptation, in ordinary English, is a modification of something to a particular purpose that it may not have fulfilled (or fulfilled well) before. It implies changes made in furtherance of a given purpose.

In evolutionary theory, that 'purpose' (scare-quotes, because 'purpose' is being used entirely metaphorically), that 'purpose', ultimately, is successful reproduction - getting one's genes into future generations.

The word also carries a sense of adaptation to something. That something is the environment, or the niche within the environment. Thus, fish are adapted to an aquatic environment. Antelope are adapted to an environment that features fast prey animals. This is consistent with the notion of reproductive 'purpose'. Only creatures that are adapted to (suited to) their environment are able to fulfill that reproductive purpose.

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Q: What does adaptations mean?
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