Science glossary · Ireland
Consumer
A living thing that gets its energy by eating other living things.
Animals are consumers because they cannot make their own food. Consumers can eat plants, animals or both.
Example: A rabbit eats grass and a fox eats the rabbit, so both are consumers.
Lessons, worksheets, practice and tools on this: Ecosystems and food webs.
Related words
- Food web: A diagram of all the food chains in an ecosystem and how they link.
- Producer: A living thing that makes its own food, usually a plant.
- Ecosystem: All the living things in an area and the nonliving things they interact with.
- Decomposer: A living thing that breaks down dead plants and animals and returns nutrients to the soil.
- Predator: An animal that hunts and eats other animals.
- Prey: An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.