What do animals eat? It depends on the animal. A herbivore is an animal that eats plants. A carnivore is an animal that eats other animals, or meat. An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals. Let's meet some of them.

Let's start with plants. An elephant eats plants such as grass, leaves, bark, roots and fruit. A koala eats leaves from eucalyptus trees. Koalas sleep so much because those leaves give them very little energy. Look at how each one eats.

Now let's look at meat eaters. Many owls hunt at night. Owls cough up pellets of bones and fur that they cannot digest. Polar bears eat mostly seals. A chameleon catches insects with a long, sticky tongue. Most bats eat insects.

Blue whales eat tiny animals called krill. A baleen whale has baleen plates instead of teeth. A blue whale gulps a huge mouthful of water. It pushes the water out through the baleen. The krill stay behind.

Now let's see how it all fits together. A food chain shows who eats whom. It starts with plants. Plants are producers. They make their own food from sunlight. Decomposers eat dead plants and animals. They return nutrients to the soil.

Words to know

• herbivore: plant eater
• baleen: whale plates
• producers: make own food
• decomposers: eat dead things