High mountains in which these animals live in have less oxygen molecules available per unit of air due to the increasing altitude and atmospheric pressure. Organisms that move into high-altitude environments develop a number of short-term adaptations, including elevated haemoglobin concentration, increased red blood cell count and higher resting ventilation. Animals that are faced with living at high altitudes have adapted to various functional changes which assist oxygen transport to the body tissues. Emilia Huerta-Sánchez: It wasn't long ago that population geneticist Emilia Huerta-Sánchez took her first biology class. Physiological adaptations to high-altitude. For example, although the high‐altitude adaptations that are best understood involve systems that deliver oxygen to tissues, it is likely that aspects of metabolism are involved in adaptation to high altitude as well—possibly as a means to conserve the scarce resource of oxygen, or to divert it differently during exertion (Bigham & Lee, 2014). These data suggest that the high-altitude adaptations may offer protection from diabetes at high altitude but increase the risk of diabetes at lower elevations and/or with adoption of a non-traditional diet. Adaptations of animals living at an high altitude. High-altitude adaptations in the Himalayas may lower risk for some chronic diseases, according to a research team including faculty from Binghamton … At high-altitude, differences in barometric pressure result in insufficient oxygen in the air, thereby causing hypoxia (that is, reduced oxygen levels in the blood). High altitude adaptations: The work of Emilia Huerta-Sánchez by the Understanding Evolution team. One of the classic examples of adaptation to a novel environment is adaptation to high-altitude.