What is a food chain?

A food chain shows the order in which living things eat one another to get energy. It starts with a plant, called a producer, which is eaten by an animal, which may then be eaten by another animal. The arrows in a food chain point from the food to the eater.

Examples

• grass to rabbit to fox.
• leaf to caterpillar to bird.
• In a food chain, the arrow means 'is eaten by'.

Quick facts

• Food chains almost always start with a plant, called a producer.
• An animal that hunts others is a predator; the animal it eats is its prey.