Grass grows in a meadow. A rabbit eats the grass. A fox eats the rabbit. That is a food chain: a list of who eats whom, with arrows.
Key idea
In a food chain, each arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it. It shows where the energy goes.
Why it works
Read an arrow as "is eaten by." Grass → rabbit means "grass is eaten by the rabbit." The energy in the grass goes into the rabbit, so the arrow points to the rabbit.
Worked example: Let's think it through
An arrow goes from the mouse to the snake. What does it mean?
- Read the arrow as "is eaten by."
- The mouse is eaten by the snake.
- The mouse's energy goes into the snake.
Answer: The snake eats the mouse.
Common mistake
Many children draw the arrows backward, from the eater to the food, because they say "the fox eats the rabbit." Point the arrow the way the energy goes: from the rabbit into the fox.
For the grown-up. Many food chains in one place join into a food web. When your child is older, the Science Lab's Predators and Prey simulation shows how the numbers in a web rise and fall.