The food chain

The food chain is all about who eats what or indeed whom. All living things are part of the food chain. And all the living things. And all living things are always looking for their next meal. Green plants are producers because they produce food for other organisms. All the other organisms in the food chain are consumers because they consume materials produced from other living organisms.

The primary consumers of the green plants are herbivores. The secondary consumers in the chain are carnivores; they eat animals that consume the green plants. For example, a rabbit eats lettuce for lunch; an owl eats the rabbit for dinner. The owl does not eat the rabbit carcass but, in the food chain, there is no waste.

Scavengers like crows and vultures happily eat the carcass. They are always flying around, circling in the sky, looking for dead animals. And whatever they don't eat, which won't be much, is for che decomposers like earthworms or fungi; they are the last stop on the food chain. Take a look under a tree at your local park. What are all those insects doing? Eating, of course!

As omnivores, humans are a middle link in the chain; we can be primary, secondary or tertiary consumers. Sometimes we eat the green plants that are at the top of the chin and other times we eat the primary consumers and secondary consumers, so chicken and tuna fish for example. Animals like lions chase their prey because they're hungry and they must eat to survive. These animals are predators.