Class 6 Science Chapter 2 Diversity in the Living World NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Science Chapter 2, “Diversity in the Living World” from the Curiosity textbook (2026-27 edition). This chapter explores the huge variety of plants and animals around us and different ways to group and classify them. These Class 6 Science Chapter 2 solutions are also useful as quick revision notes before exams.

Diversity in Plants and Animals Around Us

Our surroundings are home to an enormous variety of living things — this variety is called diversity, and the variety of life found in a particular area (or on Earth as a whole) is called biodiversity. Observing plants and animals carefully (their height, stem, leaves, flowers, habitat, food, and movement) and recording these features helps us compare and group them.

How to Group Plants

Grouping by Height and Stem

• Herbs: small plants with a soft, green, delicate stem (e.g. tomato, mint).
• Shrubs: medium-height plants with a hard, woody stem that branches out close to the ground (e.g. rose).
• Trees: tall plants with a thick, hard, woody stem, branching out higher up (e.g. mango).
• Climbers: plants with weak stems that need external support to grow upward (e.g. grapevine, gourd).
• Creepers: plants with weak stems that spread and grow along the ground (e.g. watermelon, pumpkin).

Grouping by Leaf Venation

• Reticulate venation: veins form a net-like pattern on both sides of the midrib (e.g. hibiscus, mango, peepal).
• Parallel venation: veins run parallel to each other (e.g. banana, grass, wheat).

Grouping by Root Type

• Taproot: one main thick root growing straight down with thinner lateral roots branching off it (e.g. mustard, hibiscus, radish, carrot).
• Fibrous root: a bunch of similarly thin roots growing from the base of the stem (e.g. grass, wheat).

Grouping by Seed (Cotyledons)

• Dicot: seed has two cotyledons (e.g. chickpea).
• Monocot: seed has one cotyledon (e.g. maize).

Key pattern to notice: these groupings line up with each other — plants with a taproot usually also have reticulate venation and are dicots; plants with a fibrous root usually also have parallel venation and are monocots.

How to Group Animals

• By movement: walking/running (using legs), flying (using wings), swimming (using fins), crawling.
• By habitat: Terrestrial (land-dwelling — forests, deserts, grasslands, mountains), Aquatic (water-dwelling — freshwater or marine), and Amphibious (living both on land and in water, e.g. frogs).

Plants and Animals in Different Surroundings (Adaptation)

Living things develop special features — adaptations — that help them survive in their particular surroundings.

• Desert: cactus has a thick, fleshy stem that stores water; camels have long legs and wide hooves suited to walking on sand, a hump that stores fat, and produce very little sweat/urine to conserve water. Camels in hot deserts have one hump and longer legs; camels in cold deserts (like Ladakh) have two humps, shorter legs, and longer hair for warmth.
• Mountains: the deodar tree has a conical shape with sloping branches so snow slides off easily; mountain goats have thick fur, a muscular build, and hooves that grip rocky surfaces well. The Rhododendron is shorter with smaller leaves in the Nilgiris (Shola forests) but grows taller in Sikkim — adapting to different wind conditions.
• Water/Ocean: fish have a streamlined body, fins for swimming, and gills for breathing underwater.
• Duck vs. pigeon feet: a duck has webbed feet (toes joined by skin) that act like a paddle for swimming; a pigeon has separate, unwebbed toes suited for walking and perching.

Protecting Biodiversity

• Project Tiger (started 1973) — a conservation programme to protect tigers and their habitat.
• Sacred groves — patches of forest protected by local communities for generations, left largely undisturbed.
• Janaki Ammal — played a key role in the “Save Silent Valley” movement, which protected a rainforest in Palakkad district, Kerala, from a proposed dam.
• Salim Ali — renowned ornithologist known as “the Birdman of India,” awarded the Padma Vibhushan (1976) for his contribution to Indian ornithology.
• Great Indian Bustard — a bird species whose population has declined sharply due to habitat loss, illustrating why conservation matters.

Solved Textbook Questions (Let Us Enhance Our Learning)

Q1. Compare the roots and leaf venation of wheat and kidney bean.
Answer: Wheat has a fibrous root and parallel venation (it is a monocot). Kidney bean has a taproot and reticulate venation (it is a dicot).

Q2. Group these animals by habitat: Horse, Dolphin, Frog, Sheep, Crocodile, Squirrel, Whale, Earthworm, Pigeon, Tortoise.
Answer: Aquatic: Dolphin, Whale. Terrestrial: Horse, Sheep, Squirrel, Earthworm, Pigeon. Amphibious (both land and water): Frog, Crocodile, Tortoise (tortoises live on land and cannot swim well, but are grouped here in the textbook’s answer key alongside crocodiles, which move between land and water).

Q3. What type of root and venation does a radish have?
Answer: Radish has a taproot and reticulate venation (it is a dicot).

Q4. Compare a mountain goat and a plains goat — similarities and differences.
Answer: Similarities: both belong to the same animal family, are herbivores, and have horns, hooves, and a fur coat. Differences: the mountain goat has thicker, longer fur and a stockier, muscular build with hooves specialised for gripping rocky, cold terrain; the plains goat has shorter fur, a leaner build, and ordinary hooves suited for flat ground. These differences are adaptations to their different habitats.

Q5. Group these animals by a feature of your choice: cow, cockroach, pigeon, bat, tortoise, whale, fish, grasshopper, lizard.
Answer: One valid grouping is by the presence of a backbone: animals with a backbone — cow, pigeon, bat, tortoise, whale, fish, lizard; animals without a backbone — cockroach, grasshopper. (This is open-ended — grouping by breathing method or ability to fly is also acceptable as long as the reasoning is clear.)

Q6. What are the effects of deforestation, and what can be done to reduce it?
Answer: Effects include loss of biodiversity, climate change, soil erosion, increased flooding, and disruption of food chains and the water cycle. Solutions include afforestation/reforestation, enforcing laws against illegal logging, creating protected forest reserves, raising public awareness, and reducing unnecessary consumption of wood-based products.

Q7. Sort plants into groups based on reticulate or parallel venation, and identify which root type goes with each.
Answer: Plants with reticulate venation (e.g. hibiscus, mango, rose) typically have a taproot. Plants with parallel venation (e.g. grass, wheat, banana) typically have a fibrous root. (Specific example plants may vary slightly by edition — the underlying pattern is what matters.)

Q8. Sanjay says “Gudhal (hibiscus) is a shrub.” What questions could you ask to check if this is correct?
Answer: Is its stem woody and hard, or soft and green? How tall is the plant? Do its branches start close to the ground? (Hibiscus is indeed usually classified as a shrub based on these features.)

Q9. Sort a set of plants into Group A and Group B based on shared features, and describe what each group has in common.
Answer: Group A plants (e.g. gram, beans, hibiscus) typically share reticulate venation, a taproot, and dicot seeds. Group B plants (e.g. wheat, maize, grass) typically share parallel venation, a fibrous root, and monocot seeds.

Q10. Compare the feet of a duck and a pigeon, and explain why they are different.
Answer: A duck has webbed feet (skin joining the toes), which act as a paddle to help it swim efficiently in water. A pigeon has separate, unwebbed toes, better suited for walking on the ground and gripping branches when perching. The difference reflects each bird’s different habitat and movement needs.

See also: Extra Questions | Revision Notes for this chapter.

Written by Satish

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