Who Eats What

Who Eats What

A caterpillar is eating a leaf on an apple tree.

Later the caterpillar is spotted by a wren. It becomes part of the wren's dinner. Still later the wren is eaten by a hawk.

Leaf, caterpillar, wren, and hawk are all linked. Together they form a food chain. Each is a link in the chain.

The hawk is the top of the food chain, because no other animal attacks and eats hawks. The animal at the top of a food chain is always the last eater--the one nobody else eats.

Suppose you eat an apple off the tree. That makes you part of a short food chain-the apple and you. You are the top of the food chain.