Science · Life cycles
Food chains
Who eats who?
What is a food chain?
A food chain shows who eats who in nature. It starts with plants. Plants make their own food using sunlight. Animals eat plants or other animals. Energy moves from one living thing to the next. Every food chain needs the sun to start it off.
Producers make food
Producers are living things that make their own food. Plants are producers. They use sunlight, water and air to grow. Grass, trees and seaweed are all producers. Producers are always at the start of a food chain.
Consumers eat other living things
Consumers cannot make their own food so they eat other things. Animals are consumers. A rabbit eating grass is a consumer. A fox eating a rabbit is also a consumer. Some consumers eat plants and some eat other animals.
Predators and prey
A predator is an animal that hunts and eats other animals. Prey is the animal that gets eaten. A fox is a predator. A rabbit is its prey. The same animal can be both predator and prey. A fox eats rabbits but might be eaten by an eagle.
Arrows show energy flow
Food chains use arrows to show the direction energy moves. The arrow means 'is eaten by' or 'gives energy to'. Grass → Rabbit → Fox means the rabbit eats grass. Then the fox eats the rabbit. Energy flows from grass to fox through the chain.
Worked examples
1. Put these in the correct food chain order: Fox, Grass, Rabbit
- Find the producer that makes its own food. Grass is a plant.
- Find what eats the grass. Rabbits eat grass.
- Find what eats the rabbit. Foxes eat rabbits.
- Write with arrows: Grass → Rabbit → Fox
2. Oak tree → Caterpillar → Blue tit → Sparrowhawk. What is the predator?
- A predator hunts and eats other animals.
- The sparrowhawk is at the end of the chain.
- It eats the blue tit which is an animal.
- The sparrowhawk is the predator in this food chain.
3. In this chain, what is the lettuce? Lettuce → Slug → Hedgehog
- Lettuce is a plant at the start of the chain.
- Plants make their own food using sunlight.
- Living things that make their own food are called producers.
- Lettuce is the producer in this food chain.
Try it yourself
Write a food chain using these: Owl, Mouse, Wheat. Use arrows to show energy flow.
Ready to test yourself?
Take a short topic test — every question maps to a syllabus point so you’ll see exactly which parts you’ve mastered.