CBSE Class 6 Science Notes Chapter 10: Living Creatures

CBSE Class 6 Science Notes Chapter 10: Living Creatures explain the basic features that help us identify living organisms.

This chapter teaches students about the characteristics of living things, such as growth, movement, reproduction, breathing, response to stimuli, and need for food and water.

The notes help simplify these concepts with clear explanations and examples from daily life. By studying this chapter, students understand how living organisms are different from non-living things and learn to observe the natural world more carefully.

CBSE Class 6 Science Notes Chapter 10: Living Creatures

The study of biology in Class 6 opens up a world of wonder, and  CBSE Class 6 Science Notes Chapter 10 serves as the perfect gateway. This chapter, titled Living Creatures, focuses on identifying the unique characteristics that separate the living world from the non-living. By understanding these fundamentals, students can develop a scientific temperament and a deeper appreciation for nature.

In these Living Creatures CBSE Class 6 Science notes, we explore how organisms grow, breathe, and interact with their surroundings.

Whether you are revising for a class test or preparing for your final exams, these notes provide a clear and concise summary of the essential concepts.

What Defines a Living Creature?

When we look around, we see a variety of objects some move, some grow, and some remain unchanged. In cbse class 6 science notes Living Creatures, we categorize these based on specific life processes.

Essential Characteristics of Living Beings

Every organism, from a tiny bacterium to a massive elephant, exhibits the following traits:

Living Beings

Anything with life and the ability to grow, reproduce, and feed itself is referred to as a living being or living thing.

Non Living Thing

∙ A non-living thing is an object that is not alive and lacks the characteristics of living things.

∙ Movement is one of the characteristics to differentiate between the living and the non-living.

Movement in living beings

All living beings share some common characteristics. For example, all living beings show movement, they need food, and they grow. They also respire, reproduce, excrete, respond to stimuli, and eventually, die. Absence of any of these features indicates that they are non-living things.

1. In Plants:

∙ Insectivorous plants are dependent on insects for their nutrition. 

∙ Drosera is one of the examples of an insectivore. 

∙ Drosera is featured with saucer-shaped leaves having many hair-like projections of unequal length with sticky ends.

∙ Whenever an insect enters the saucer, hairs move inward and trap the insect with their sticky ends.

∙ Opening of flowers is one of the examples of movement in plants.

∙ Climbers wind themselves around any object placed close to them.

2. In Animals:

∙ Humans become larger in size. This is called growth.

Life processes

∙ Living beings need food (nutrition) for their growth and development.

∙ Living beings respire. In the process of breathing, when we inhale, the air moves from outside to inside our body. When we breathe out, the air moves from inside our body to outside. Breathing is part of a process called respiration.

∙ Plants also respire. There are tiny pores called stomata on the surface of leaves. These pores help plants in taking air in and out.

∙ Removal of waste products from the body is called excretion. All living beings excrete.

∙ The sweat consists of water and salts removed by the body as waste products.

∙ Urine is formed as a product of excretion in animals.

∙ Plants excrete excess water and minerals in the form of small droplets on leaves. For example, grasses and roses.

Water droplets on grass

∙ All living beings reproduce. Reproduction is the process of producing new ones of one’s own kind. It is necessary for the continuity of life.

∙ Any thing or any event that prompts living beings to respond is called a stimulus.

∙ Plants also respond to stimuli. For example, touch me-not (mimosa, chhui-mui, lajjalu) plants fold their leaves when we touch them.

Touch-me-not (chhui-mui) plant

Note:

When a living being is not able to exhibit all of the above mentioned characteristics, despite the availability of all resources (like food, air and water) needed for being alive, it is said to be dead.

Essential Conditions for Germination of a Seed

∙ Germination is the process by which a seed or spore grows into a plant.

∙ Requirements for germination- 

∙ Water: It facilitates the processes that the seeds need to carry out in order to grow. The term "seed coat" refers to the seed's outer layer. Water helps the tiny embryo inside the seed to develop into a plant by softening the seed coat. 

∙ Air and Soil: They make use of the air that exists in the empty spaces created by soil particles. Additionally, the voids in the soil allow roots to spread out easily.

∙ Light and/or dark conditions: We now know that light is not necessary for the germination of bean seeds. For the most of the part, most seeds can germinate without light. However, the seedling needs sunlight to continue growing after germination. Some seeds of flowering plants, like Coleus and Petunia, require light to germinate. Covering these seeds with soil inhibits their sprouting. Seeds of flowering plants, like Calendula and Zinnia, need darkness to germinate. These seeds should be covered with sufficient soil.

Growth and Movement in Plants

1. When the plant is kept upright, the root grows downwards and the shoot grows upwards.

2. When the plant is kept inverted, the root bends and grows downwards. Also, the shoot bends and grows upwards.

Set-up showing plants kept in different conditions

3. When the plant gets sunlight only from one direction, the shoot grows in the direction of light while the root continues to grow downwards.

Conclusion- 

Shoots of plants grow upward and exhibit movement towards sunlight but roots of plants grow downwards.

Crescograph

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was an Indian scientist who built a machine called a crescograph to record how plants respond to stimuli like light, heat, electricity and gravity. With this machine, he could measure how fast plants grow. He also showed that plants can sense and respond to stimuli.

Life Cycle of a Plant

∙ A seed develops into a young plant, which then bears fruit and flowers. 

∙ The fruit, in this case a pod, contains seeds that germinate and produce new bean plants every time.

∙ The life cycle of a plant is the complete process from a seed to a plant and then to the next generation of seeds. A plant is considered dead when it stops growing and all life-sustaining processes eventually cease, even in the presence of all required elements.

Life cycle of a bean plant

Life Cycle of a Animals

1. Life Cycle of a Mosquito:

∙ Female mosquitoes are bloodsucking insects that transmit several diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya.

∙ Their breeding places are commonly found in stagnant water like desert coolers, planted pots and any open container.

Larvae and pupae of mosquitoes in a stagnant water body

∙ Mosquito larvae and pupae observed in water bodies repeatedly come to the water surface.

∙ They move to the surface of the water for air.

∙ Mosquitoes pass through four stages in their life cycle— egg, larva, pupa and adult.

stage I- A mosquito begins its life as an egg.

stage II- The egg develops into a larva.

stage III- The larva grows into pupa.

stage IV- The pupa transforms into an adult mosquito. 

Life cycle of a mosquito

∙ The adult female mosquito lays eggs directly on or near water, and the cycle continues.

∙ The adult mosquito that emerges from the pupa rests briefly on the surface of water and then flies away. The adult mosquito may survive for 10 to 15 days 

2. Life Cycle of a Silk Moth:

∙ The silk moth passes through four life stages—egg, larva, pupa and adult. 

∙ Eggs hatch into larvae, which then grow in size. 

∙ Larvae secrete thread-like material which they wrap around themselves which is called as cocoon. A cocoon is composed of a single silk thread of a small cotton ball. This stage lasts for 2 days. These are the fibres that are used to make silk fabric.

∙ The silkworm does not move when it becomes pupa.. At this point, the pupa is killed by dropping the cocoon into the bubbling water, which allows the silk thread to be extracted. 

∙ Pupa transforms into a silk moth completing its life cycle.

Note:

In India, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has set up several centres for silk production.

How to Use CBSE Class 6 Science Notes Chapter 10

Using CBSE Class 6 Science Notes Chapter 10: Living Creatures – Exploring Their Characteristics properly can help students understand the chapter clearly and prepare well for exams.

Read the Summary First

Start by reading the chapter summary to understand the main idea. This will help you know the important characteristics of living organisms.

Understand Key Concepts

Focus on important topics such as growth, movement, reproduction, breathing, and response to stimuli. Make sure you understand how living things are different from non-living things.

Learn Important Definitions

Revise key terms and definitions from the notes. These are often asked in exams and help build strong basic knowledge.

Study with Examples

Read the examples given in the notes to understand concepts better. Real-life examples make learning easier and more interesting.

Use for Quick Revision

Before exams, revise the notes to quickly remember the main points of the chapter. Since the notes are short and well-organized, they help save time and improve confidence.