4. Animals get energy from the food they eat, and all living things get energy from food. Plants use sunlight, water and nutrients to get energy during photosynthesis. Energy is necessary for living beings to grow. A food chain shows how each living thing gets food, and how nutrients and energy are passed from creature to creature. Food chains begin with plant-life, and end with animal-life. Some animals eat plants, some animals eat other animals.
Plants are called producers because they use light energy from the Sun to produce food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water. Animals cannot make their own food so they must eat plants and/or other animals. They are called consumers. There are three groups of consumers. Herbivores eat only plant products, Carnivores eat other animals and Omnivores eat plants and animals. Then there are decomposers (bacteria and fungi) which feed on decaying matter and speed up the decaying process that releases mineral salts back into the food chain for absorption by plants as nutrients.

Example of Food Chain

All living things need food to give them the energy to grow and move. A food chain shows how each living thing gets its food. The arrow means "is eaten by".


Grass is eaten by Grasshopper is eaten by Toad is eaten by Snake is eaten by Hawk.

Example of Food Web
A food web shows the many different paths plants and animals are connected. eg: A hawk eats a mouse, a squirrel and a snake. The snake eats a mouse and a rabbit and so on for all the other animals in the food chain. It is several food chains connected together.



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