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In order to live, animals need energy. Some animals get the energy they need to live from eating plants and other vegetation - herbivores. Some animals get their energy from eating other animals - carnivores. Some animals eat both plants and other animals - omnivores. NEX T

Animals that eat plants are called herbivores. Herbivores have evolved to eat plants. They have specialised teeth and stomachs to enable them to get the energy they need from plants. deerrabbitcow NEX T

Animals that eat meat are called carnivores. Carnivores have evolved to eat meat. Some have specialised teeth and stomachs to enable them to get the energy they need from the bodies of other animals. spidersnakewolf penguins It is not necessary to have teeth or claws to be a carnivore. NEX T

Animals that eat plants and meat are called omnivores. Humans and chickens are examples of omnivores. Some omnivores have teeth (some have hard beaks instead) and stomachs that enable them to eat and digest both plants and meat. NEX T

All living organisms require energy and the ultimate source of all this energy is the sun. Solar energy is trapped by plants, and then transferred from organism to organism in a food chain. In 1927, a scientist named Charles Elton developed this idea of a food chain to show how living things get their food. Food chains show a direct line of energy transfer from the sun to the producer (plants) to consumers. NEX T

weeds wormfoxchick sun water decomposers fungi NEX T

Eaten by: Food chains show what eats what in order to gain the energy it needs to live. Food chains use arrows to show the process. There are no simple chains like this, as chickens eat more than grain and foxes eat more than chickens. weedschick NEX T The arrows between each item in a food chain always point from the food to the feeder e.g. grain is eaten by a chick which is eaten by a fox. Each link in this chain is food for the next link. A food chain always starts with plant life and ends with an animal. Anything that affects one link, affects everything in the chain. fox

Most food chains have no more than four or five links. There cannot be too many links in a single food chain because the animals at the end of the chain would not get enough food (and hence energy) to stay alive. Most animals are part of more than one food chain and eat more than one kind of food in order to meet their food and energy requirements. NEX T

Nearly all food webs start with a green plant. Plants are called producers because they are able to use light energy from the Sun to produce food (glucose) from carbon dioxide and water in the process called photosynthesis. producers consumers NEX T

Animals are consumers as they cannot make their own food so must eat plants and/or other animals. Some consume plants to get the energy they need to live while others consume other animals. chickwormweeds producers consumers NEX T people

Animals that are eaten by other animals are called prey. Some prey animals are herbivores. Some omnivores and carnivores are also prey to other animals. chickwormfox NEX T

Animals that eat other animals are called predators. Some animals are predators and prey. This means they eat some animals but are eaten by others. The predator that is prey to no other animal is called the top predator e.g. chicken hawk. chicken hawk wormchick NEX T

herbivore omnivore carnivore insectivore decomposer NEX T eats plants eats both plant and animal foods meat-eating animals An animal that feeds on insects and other invertebrates e.g. bacteria and fungi, which feed on decaying matter animal that preys on others Animals are consumers as they cannot make their own food so must eat plants and/or other animals. Some consume plants to get the energy they need to live while others consume other animals. animal hunted and killed by another for food Plants are called producers as they are able to use light energy from the Sun to produce food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water. predator prey producer consumer