Rainforest Food Chains

The jaguar is a large cat weighing up to 200 pounds and growing up to six feet in length. They live exclusively in the Amazon Rainforest in Central and South America. These cats are a top predator in their environment. They feed on caiman, large crocodiles in the Amazon River that are secondary consumers. Caiman and jaguars both feed on primary consumers like capybara and tapirs. The primary consumers eat the beautiful vegetation that covers the trees and canopy of the Amazon. Capybaras eat grass, reeds, and fruit that are producers.

Giant anteaters are also incredibly large predators reaching seven feet in length and weighing up to 100 pounds! Although seemingly monstrous, these giant predators only eat ants and other small bugs, as their name suggests. They have claws they use to dig up ant hills and a giant tongue (up to two feet) that sticks to the ants, grabbing them and pulling them into their mouth.

Giant anteaters are secondary consumers. They eat ants, which are primary consumers. The ants eat leaves and grass present on the forest floor. The tertiary consumers in this food chain are jaguars and other big cats that feed on anteaters.

The rainforest is one of the most important biomes on Earth. Many medicinal products that humans use grow only in the rainforest, and scientists believe they have only studied 1% of the plants that might have medicinal use. Millions of species live in the rainforest that live nowhere else in the world. If we don't protect the rainforest, these species may go extinct.

The rainforest is also incredibly important in global warming. Global warming is the increase in global temperature due to carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is released from our cars, factories and electricity plants. Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and help to decrease global temperatures.

In summary, a food chain is a diagram showing the linear transfer of energy between two species. Producers make up the base of the food chain and are eaten by primary consumers. Secondary consumers eat the primary consumers. Tertiary consumers eat both primary and secondary consumers and help keep the food chain in balance.