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As you know, all living things have to eat food. Whether you are a clown fish or a tiger, food is a necessity! Many different types of animals share

habitats and live in communities together. Many times, one type of animal will be a source of food for another type of animal in a community.

Photo: Nick Hobgood, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Within a food chain, some living things are producers and some are consumers. Plants are producers, as they make their own food (using

sunlight, soil, and other elements). Animals are consumers because they have to eat other animals and plants.

There are four different types of consumers in the animal kingdom. A carnivore is an animal that only eats other animals. An herbivore is an

animal that only eats plants. An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals. A scavenger is an animal that eats dead animals.

Photo: Mike Baird, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The diagram to the left is an example of two food chains. A food chain shows the order that animals eat each other in a community. In the image to the left, you can see

what animal or plant is food for another animal in its community. For

instance, the food chain with the eagle shows how a leaf is food for a grasshopper, which then becomes

food for a hungry mouse. The mouse is food for a snake, which is then eaten by an eagle. In this way, all of these animals are connected.

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What happens to a food chain when the number of animals in a community changes too much? Sea otters can help us understand the answer to this

question. Sea otters are needed members of the ocean community because they eat sea urchins. In places where there are low numbers of sea otters, the number of sea urchins increases too much because they are not being

eaten by sea otters. As a result, the sea urchins eat too much of a food called kelp, which destroys many ocean communities because many ocean

creatures rely on kelp to survive. This proves how sea otters are not only cute but needed members of their communities.

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animals to survive. Carnivore: An animal that only eats other animals. Herbivore: An animal that only eats plants. Omnivore: An animal that eats both other animals and plants. Scavenger: An animal that eats dead animals. Food Chain: Shows the order that animals eat each other in a community

Please visit us at http://www.ecobuddies.com anytime! EcoBuddies is a safe, green virtual world kids! Our mission is to spread going green across the globe.

Photo: Hans Hillewaert, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/

Words to Remember Habitat: A place where an animal lives that gives it the food, shelter, water, and other elements it needs to survive. Community: Two or more types of animals that live in a habitat together. Producers: Living things that create their own food to survive, like plants. Consumers: Animals that have to eat plants or other