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NCERT Solutions Curiosity Chapter 2 –29Section 2.3 — In-text Questions

Book page 27 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
What are the different ways in which you can group plants and animals based on their habitats?
Answer

The habitat is the place where plants and animals live. The simplest grouping is the one the book gives — those that live on land and those that live in water.

GroupWhat it meansExamples of the habitatPlants and animals found there
TerrestrialLiving on landForests, deserts, grasslands, mountainsCamel, lion, deodar, cactus, neem, goat
AquaticLiving in waterPonds, lakes, rivers, oceansFish, whale, dolphin, lotus, water hyacinth
AmphibiansAnimals that can live in water as well as on landPond edges, marshy groundFrog, toad

The land and water habitats can be divided further:

  • Terrestrial → desert (camel, cactus), forest (tiger, sal), grassland (deer, grasses), mountain (yak, deodar, rhododendron).
  • Aquatic → fresh water (pond, lake, river — rohu, lotus, frog) and salt water (ocean — whale, coral, seaweed).
Why habitat is such a good basis: the habitat provides food, water, air, shelter and everything else needed for survival. So living things that share a habitat also tend to share adaptations — every ocean animal is streamlined, every desert plant saves water. Grouping by habitat therefore groups by way of life, not just by address.
Q2.
What would happen if the habitat of a plant or an animal is damaged? What would happen if a goat does not get grass to eat? Can a fish survive without water?
Answer

If a habitat is damaged, its plants and animals lose their home, food and other resources — and that leads to loss of biodiversity.

The goat: grass is the goat's food. Without grass it would go hungry, become weak, stop giving milk, and would either have to move away in search of grazing or would not survive. This is what happens to herders in a drought year, when whole flocks must be walked hundreds of kilometres to find fodder.

The fish: No — a fish cannot survive without water. Water is not just where it lives; a fish takes in oxygen dissolved in water through its gills, and its fins can push only against water. Out of water the gills dry up and it cannot breathe at all. You see this whenever a village pond dries up in May.

Why the damage spreads: living things depend on one another. If a forest is cut, the deer lose food and shelter, the tiger loses the deer, the birds lose nesting trees, and the fruit trees lose the birds that spread their seeds. One damaged habitat pulls down a whole chain — which is why the damage to habitats results in the loss of biodiversity.
Did you know? India has acted on exactly this. Project Tiger was started in 1973 to protect the declining Bengal Tiger, the Cheetah Reintroduction Project in 2022, and the habitats of the Great Indian Bustard have been declared protected areas in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
Q3.
Check with your parents, grandparents, and neighbours to know about the plants, birds, insects or any other animal they used to see frequently in their childhood but do not see as often now.
Answer

This is a survey you must actually do — ask three or four elders and write down their own words. Here is the method and a model answer.

Method: ask each person (i) which plants, birds and insects were common when they were your age, (ii) which of them they rarely see now, and (iii) what they think changed. Note the place they lived in, because the answers depend on it. Then make a class list of the names that came up more than once.

Sample answer: My grandmother says that when she was in school, house sparrows nested in the roof of almost every house and vultures circled over the fields. Fireflies lit up the hedges in the rainy season and there were so many frogs after the first rain that the pond was noisy all night. Today she sees very few sparrows, no vultures at all, and hardly any fireflies. She says the old mud-and-tile houses with holes for nesting have gone, the pond has been filled in for houses, and the fields are sprayed with far more pesticide than before.
Why these changes happen: all three reasons she gives are examples of habitat damage. Concrete buildings have no nesting holes; a filled-in pond removes the frog's breeding place; pesticides kill the insects that sparrows and fireflies feed on. Once the habitat goes, the animal cannot stay — even though nobody set out to harm it.
Q4.
Find out about the sacred groves in your region.
Answer

Sacred groves are undisturbed patches of forest protected by the local community. Their sizes vary from quite small to very large, and they are found all over India. They are home to many kinds of plants and animals, including numerous medicinal plants. No one is allowed to harm any animal, cut trees, or disturb the area — so a sacred grove is a community protected treasure of biodiversity.

How to find out about the one near you: ask elders in your village or neighbourhood for the local name (they are called by different names in different states), visit it with a teacher, note the trees, birds and medicinal plants inside it, and ask who looks after it and what the rules are.

StateLocal name for a sacred grove
KeralaKavu / Sarpa kavu
MeghalayaLaw Kyntang / Law Lyngdoh (e.g. Mawphlang)
MaharashtraDevrai / Deorai
RajasthanOran / Kenkri
KarnatakaDevarakadu / Devara kan
Himachal Pradesh & UttarakhandDeo bhumi / Dev van
Why sacred groves work so well: the protection does not come from a fence or a guard but from the community's own belief and agreement. Because everyone accepts the rule, no one breaks it. Many sacred groves therefore hold old trees and rare medicinal plants that have disappeared from the forest all around them — living proof that ordinary people can protect biodiversity, just as they did in the Save Silent Valley movement.
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