Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store

Are humans part of the food chain?

seo-qna
SearchIcon
Answer
VerifiedVerified
370.5k+ views
Hint: Humans play a role as the consumers in the food chain.
They depend on other organisms like plants or animals for energy but are not eaten consistently by any animals. They cannot generate their own energy. Humans are said to be at the top of the human food chain.

Complete answer:
Food chains are made up of - 1. Producers, such as plants, who can create food from sunlight on their own. 2. Primary consumers or herbivores who eat plants and 3. Secondary and higher-level consumers that eat the herbivores or lower-level consumers.
Omnivores such as humans eat plants and animals from all levels, but a food chain that includes humans has a producer, a primary consumer and humans.
Humans are said to be at the top of the food chain because they eat plants and animals of all kinds but are not eaten consistently by any animals.
The human food chain starts with plants. Plants eaten by humans are called fruits and vegetables, and when they eat these plants, humans are primary consumers. Most humans also eat animals further up the food chain. Because they eat both plants and animals, humans are considered omnivores.
The typical human food chain has only three or four organisms in it. Humans eat fruit and vegetables, herbivores and a few carnivores but don't consistently eat animals higher up the food chain. Most of the human diet consists of organisms near the lower end of the food chain even though humans are considered to be at the top.
seo images


Note:
In contradiction, according to a team of French researchers, that widely held belief is wrong. Humans aren’t at the top of the food chain. In fact, we’re nowhere near the top. Ecologists rank species by their diets using a metric called the trophic level.