By Logan

     An organism that eats other living things for food are consumers. A consumer gets its energy by eating plants and animals that eat plants. Consumers rely on producers or animals that eat producers for food.

     Humans are consumers because we eat animals like deer, cows, pigs, snakes, birds, and many other animals. We also eat plants, like mint, beans, lettuce, cabbage, and more.

     Buzzards are consumers because they eat dead animals. They are also called scavengers. Other scavengers include ants, hyenas, and any animal that eats animals that have already been killed before they began eating them.

     Wolves are consumers because they eat chickens. Chickens are consumers because they eat seeds from plants. (Plants are not consumers because they get their energy from the sun and make their own food through photosynthesis.) The chicken gets its energy from the seeds. The wolf gets its energy from the chicken. In this way energy is carried along a food chain. 

     There are different types of consumers. Herbivores are the consumers that eat plants, such as cows who eat grass and chew cud. Omnivores are the consumers that eat both plants and animals, like bears eat berries and animals. Carnivores are the consumers that eat meat. For example, the tiger only eats meat. We are omnivores because we eat steak, fish, ham, berries, green beans, and lots more of both plants and animals.

Here are some links where you can find more information on consumers:

Brain Pop, Jr. Food Chain

The Producers, Consumers, Decomposers Game

Memory Game with Consumer Farm Animals

Bibliography:

(Picture of animated deer) www.animationfactory.com

(Picture of bee/flower, polar bear, and coyote) http://www.nhptv.org/Natureworks/nwep10.htm

Badder, W., Carnine, D., et al. (2009).  Georgia science. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Biskup, A. (2007). Exploring ecosystems with Max Axion super scientist. Makato, Minnesota: Capstone.