Handout 3.

Our Environment
Different animals eat different things. Some animals eat plants. These are called herbivores. Some animals eat other animals. These are called carnivores. Some examples of herbivores include: deer, cows, horses, and some insects (grasshoppers, locusts). Some examples of carnivores include: lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and leopards. Some animals or insects eat both plant and other animals. These are called omnivores. Some examples of omnivores include: humans, chickens, rats, and cats. Producers in the environment are usually plants which use the suns rays in order to produce food for themselves. Consumers in the environment are usually animals which consume other plants and animals. Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores are consumers. Usually, herbivores are primary consumers, carnivores are secondary consumers, and omnivores are tertiary consumers. A food chain represents a linear sequence of links, which starts from a species which eats no other species in the web, with species that are not eaten by other species in the web. When linking two or more different food chains together, we get a food web. Below we can see an example of a food chain (left) and a food web (right). Note that the arrow points to the species which eats the species. For example: mouse ----------> snake, means that the snake eats the mouse.