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NCERT Solutions for Class 5th The World Around Us Chapter 1 Animals on land and animals in water — Life in Water

Book page 14–15 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
It is wonderful to see the variety of plants and animals living in water! How are they different from those living on land?
Answer

They are different because their bodies are built for water instead of for land. An animal in water must swim, must breathe under water, and must not be pushed about by the flowing water. So it has fins, gills and a smooth pointed body. A land animal must walk and breathe air, so it has legs and lungs.

Look at the pond picture on pages 14–15 and compare.

  • How they move. The fish uses fins and a tail. The frog uses webbed hind feet. The heron uses long thin legs to wade. The deer or the dog on land uses four legs to run.
  • How they breathe. Most fish take in air that is dissolved in the water, using gills. Land animals breathe air through the nose, into the lungs.
  • Body shape. A fish is pointed at both ends and smooth, so it slips through water easily. A land animal does not need that shape.
  • Skin cover. Fish have wet, slippery scales. Land animals have dry skin, hair or feathers.
  • Plants too. Water plants have soft stems that bend with the water, and broad leaves that float. Land plants have stiff stems that stand up against the wind.
Why they are built this way: Water pushes back on anything moving through it far more than air does. A smooth, streamlined body and flat fins deal with that push. And there is no free air under water, so an animal that lives there must be able to take in the little air that is dissolved in the water — which is what gills do.
Q2.
Complete the following table discussing with peers about the characteristics of animals on land and animals in water. (Given: ‘Cannot breathe in water.’ / ‘Have fins to swim.’)
Animals on LandAnimals in Water
Cannot breathe in water.Have fins to swim.
  
  
  
  
  
The table printed on page 15, exactly as it stands in the book — one row filled in, five rows blank.
Answer

Here is the completed table. The first row is the book's example.

Animals on LandAnimals in Water
Cannot breathe in water.Have fins to swim.
Breathe air through the nose, using lungs.Most breathe under water using gills.
Have legs or wings to walk, run or fly.Have fins and a strong tail to push through the water.
Body is covered with hair, feathers or dry scales.Body is smooth and slippery, often with wet scales.
Body shape is not smooth — it does not need to be.Body is pointed at both ends so it slips through water easily.
Lay eggs on land, or the young are born on land.Many lay soft eggs in the water itself.

Examples you can add: on land — cow, dog, hen, deer, elephant. In water — fish, freshwater turtle, water snake, water scorpion.

Some live in both. The frog on the lotus leaf swims in the pond as a young tadpole, breathing like a fish, and hops on land as an adult, breathing air. The fishing cat of India's wetlands has partly webbed paws and dives into water to catch fish, but it lives on land.
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