RI.9-1.4: Cites information from
the text to support the main idea.
SC.912.L.17.9 Use a food web to
identify producers, consumers and
decomposers; pathways of energy.
The Most
Dangerous Game
by Richard Connell
(50-57)
Read the following article AFTER reading The Most Dangerous Game. The story turns the typical predator/prey relationship on
its head by constantly reversing the roles of the hunter and the hunted. Consider the diagram below, which represents a Food
Web from Lake Michigan. Respond to the questions along the right hand column before analyzing further.
What eats the Herring gull?
Rainsford
What do humans eat?
What eats the chub?
What does the chub eat?
How does sunlight contribute to the
web?
What eats Phytoplankton?
What consumes bacteria and fungi?
List the Producers from the food web
on the other side of the page…
Producers: Photosynthesizing organisms
Producers are any kind of green plant. Green plants make their food by taking
sunlight and using the energy to make sugar. The plant uses this sugar, also called
glucose to make many things, such as wood, leaves, roots, and bark. Trees, such
as they mighty Oak, and the grand American Beech, are examples of producers.
Consumers: any organism that can’t make its own food
List the Consumers from the food
web on the other side of the page…
List the Decomposers from the food
web on the other side of the page…
On the other side, add General
Zaroff to the web (at least at the
beginning…)
Consumers have to feed on producers or other consumers to survive. Deer are
herbivores, which mean that they only eat plants (Producers). Bears are another
example of consumers. Black bears are omnivores and scavengers, like skunks
and raccoons, which means that they will eat just about anything. In a forest
community, Black Bears will eat blueberries, bugs, acorns, and many kinds of
nuts.
Decomposers: An organism that primarily feeds on dead
organisms or the waste from living organisms
Decomposers are the garbage men of the animal kingdom; they take all the dead
animals and plants (consumers and decomposers) and break them down into
their nutrient components so that plants can use them to make more food.
Decomposers in the forest come in many different shapes and sizes. Shelf fungus
is a fungus that grows on the sides of trees. It grows into the tree and
decomposes it slowly. Have you ever been walking through the woods and come
across a dead log that falls apart and is full of dirt? That is because decomposers
have been eating and digesting that log for several years, turning it into dirt that
is wonderful for plants.
In the space below (or on a separate sheet of paper), create
a mini food web for the ecosystems that exists on Ship-Trap
Island (for our purposes, our food web will represent
HUNTING instead of CONSUMPTION ). Include Rainsford,
Zaroff, Ivan, the hunting hounds, elements of the jungle and
other living organisms in the ecosystem.
On this side, respond to the following quote from one
student’s essay about “The Most Dangerous Game”.
“The story is so fascinating because it changes the normal
order of nature. When animals hunt, it seems natural,
because it is for food -- but when humans hunt, and in this
case, hunt one another, it’s for a different kind of survival.”
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