Food chains and food webs
Grass, a deer, a lion. Which one eats which?
Step 1 of 4
- Grass, a deer and a lion, apart.
- The deer eats grass. The arrow points to the eater.
- The lion eats the deer. A food chain: grass → deer → lion.
- Grass also feeds a rabbit, and a fox eats the rabbit. Two chains share grass — a food web.
Tap the organisms in eating order. Then build a second chain.
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The deer eats the grass. The lion eats the deer.
New words
- Food chain — a straight line of who eats whom. The arrow points from the one eaten to the one eating it.
- Food web — many food chains joined together, sharing one or more links. A link is one organism in a chain.
The rule
Each food chain starts with a producer. Each arrow points from what is eaten to what eats it. That shows which way the food goes. Real feeding is rarely one straight line. Most animals eat more than one thing. So chains cross into a food web.
| Chain | Producer | Eaten by | Then eaten by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chain 1 | Grass | Deer | Lion |
| Chain 2 | Grass | Rabbit | Fox |
A pond has its own web too. Small fish eat water plants. Bigger fish eat the small fish. A heron, a water bird, eats the bigger fish.