Food Chains

A food chain shows how energy moves from plants to animals. It starts with a plant that makes food from sunlight. Then an animal eats the plant. Then another animal eats that animal. Each step is called a link in the chain.

Parts of a Food Chain

Producers are plants that make their own food using sunlight. Consumers are animals that eat plants or other animals. Decomposers break down dead plants and animals. Each part of the food chain is important.

A Simple Food Chain

Here is a simple food chain: grass grows using sunlight. A rabbit eats the grass. A hawk eats the rabbit. When the hawk dies, bacteria break down its body. The nutrients go back into the soil to help grass grow.

Fun Facts

• The sun is the starting point of almost every food chain on Earth.
• Animals at the top of the food chain are called apex predators.
• If one part of a food chain disappears, it can affect all the other parts.

Did You Know?

There are food chains deep in the ocean where sunlight never reaches! These food chains start with bacteria that get energy from chemicals in hot water vents.