Skip to content
MeerkatSkool Afrikaans
Summaries · Grade 4 Natural Sciences › Food chains
Free summary · Grade 4 Natural Sciences

Food chains

Who eats whom: producers, consumers, predators, prey and decomposers. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

Know it already? Jump straight to the quiz

Your progress0 of 3

The chain

SunGrassSpringbokCheetah
The arrow shows where the energy goes: “is eaten by”.
Rule

A food chain always starts with a plant (the producer). “Owl → mouse → grass” is the wrong way round.

In grass → mouse → snake → eagle the snake is predator and prey: it eats the mouse, and the eagle eats it.

Grass, grasshopper, bird: a food chain.
Grass, grasshopper, bird: a food chain.
Tap when you could tell someone without looking.

Teeth tell what an animal eats

A carnivore like a lion has sharp, pointed teeth to tear meat. A herbivore like a zebra has flat back teeth to grind grass.

Tap when you could tell someone without looking.

When one link disappears

  • If all the plants die, all the animals eventually die too.
  • If the predator disappears, there are too many prey animals.
  • If the buck disappear, the grass grows very long.
Meerkat tip

There are fewer lions than buck, because energy is lost at every step of the chain.

Tap when you could tell someone without looking.

Remember this and test yourself

Remember this: your summary
  • The energy for every food chain comes from the Sun. The first living thing in a food chain is always a plant (the producer); then come the animals that eat it.
  • A plant is a producer: it makes its own food. Animals are consumers.
  • The arrow means “is eaten by”: grass → buck → lion.
  • A predator hunts; the animal that is hunted is the prey.
  • Decomposers (mushrooms, worms) break down dead things and return nutrients to the soil.

Write these points in your book. Read them again the night before the test.

Memory trick

Read the arrow as “is eaten by”, and always start with the green thing.

Flash cards · Tap to turn over

Important words

First say what the word means, then turn the card over.

Test yourself · Part 2

True or false?

Read the question and the answer. Is the answer right? Tap True or False.

    Now the real quiz!

    The quiz has many more questions on this topic. Every question shows straight away whether you are right and explains why.

    Take the quiz: Food chains
    All Grade 4 Natural Sciences summaries
    For parents
    • Read one part together and ask your child to tell it back in their own words.
    • The ticks (“I know this”) are saved on this device only. We never ask for names or emails.

    Follows CAPS for Grade 4 Natural Sciences and Technology. Always check your teacher’s notes and textbook too.

    Free PDF