ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Food web

Hey little friend! Do you like to eat different things? Just like you, different animals in the world also eat different things.

Now, let's imagine a big playground with a lot of kids playing. Some kids like to play with balls, some like jumping ropes, some like to run around, and some others like to play hide and seek. In the same way, animals have their own things they like to eat.

A food web is kind of like a playground where animals can find what they need to eat. It shows us how animals in a certain area are connected to each other by what they eat. Just like how the kids in the playground are connected to each other through their different interests.

Food web is like a big family tree, where animals at the top of the food web are eating animals underneath them. For example, a lion eats a zebra and a zebra eats grass. And then, there are other animals like hyenas, who might eat the leftovers from the lion's hunt or scavengers, who eat dead animals.

Just like in a playground, there are rules to follow in a food web. For example, if one animal is missing or goes extinct, it can affect the whole food web. It's important to keep a balance in the food web and avoid breaking any crucial connections.

So, just like you need food to grow and be healthy, animals in the wild also need food to survive. And the food web helps us understand who eats what and how every animal is a part of this big circle of life.