Pawpedia · Nature and conservation
Food chain
The order of who eats whom in nature: from plants to plant-eaters to meat-eaters.
What is a food chain?
Every food chain starts with plants growing in sunlight. For example: grass → zebra → lion. Or in the sea: tiny plankton → krill → blue whale.
If one link disappears, the others suffer. Fewer plant-eaters means hungry meat-eaters; fewer meat-eaters means plant-eaters may multiply and strip the plants.
Examples in the zoo
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Savanna · Mammal
Zebra
Equus quagga
Near threatened
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Savanna · Mammal
Lion
Panthera leo
Vulnerable
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Ocean · Mammal
Blue whale
Balaenoptera musculus
Endangered
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Türkiye · Mammal
Anatolian ground squirrel
Spermophilus xanthoprymnus
Near threatened
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Forest & mountain · Bird
Golden eagle
Aquila chrysaetos
Least concern