Traits of Living Things

Parents pass traits, or characteristics to their offspring. This is called heredity.

Traits that are passed down are called inherited traits. Your eye color is an inherited trait.

Other examples of inherited traits are the color of the petals of a flower, the height of the giraffe or the fur of an animal.

Acquired traits are traits that is learned from the environment. You can learn traits by watching, observing or trying. Examples of acquired trait is learning how to walk, run, read, write, and speak.

My DNA

DNA is like a twisted ladder made of two long strands. The information about your traits is stored in it.

The DNA of a parent is passed to the child. A copy of the DNA is made and is inherited by the child.

As the cell divides, chromosomes are formed. Most living things like you have pairs of chromosomes. The chromosomes in each pair are similar but not the same.

You have 46 chromosomes. Half of it come from your mom and the other half is from your dad. It means you inherited 23 chromosomes from mom and 23 chromosomes from dad, making it 46 in all.