Food Chain Confusion with Consumer, Producers, Predator and Prey

We all living beings need food to live and it’s the source of survival. This is what students knows but sometimes student get confused between consumer and producer and are unable to answer simple question.

As an online tutor I have seen that students still don’t know the difference between consumer and producer and are unable to answer correctly. Here are few questions I am solving for them.

Question 1: Please select the producer among the following

1. Eagle
2. Caterpillar
3. Rat
4. Plants

And most of the students don’t know the basic definition of producers and thinks that caterpillar is the right answer. Well let me explain about producers. Producers are those who can make their own food and they are starting point of food chain. Plants prepare their own food with the help of Sun light and the process is called photosynthesis. Thus the answer is plants.

Question 2: Please select consumers among the following

1. Dog
2. Plants
3. Trees
4. Shrubs

Still here students sometimes tick shrubs and the answer is dog. Consumers are those who are dependent on plants and other animals and eat them. So the answer is dog. In this way by understanding simple concept student can score more in their exams.

Many students still are confused between predator and prey. Here predator is the one who eats other animals to survive and the prey is the animal which is the food of that animal.

One question related to this is

Question 3: which is predator and prey in the following?

Fox and rabbit

Answer: fox eats rabbit so fox is a predator and rabbit is prey.