Fact Sheet
Top Predator
Photograph: Stig Olsen
Falcons are top predators or apex predators. It is important to conserve falcons because of this fact. A decline in top
predators can often alter the balance of an entire ecosystem.
The majority of raptors hunt by day. There are called diurnal birds of prey. Day hunters include eagles, falcons and hawks,
ravens and vultures (which are scavengers).
In Nature, each and every living thing is important, and the fine connections that exist between all organisms are what helps
maintain balance. A food chain is a group of living things where each member is eaten by another member. Plants and animals
in a community are linked by what they eat/ what gives them energy. The food chain is what keeps an ecosystem in balance.
All living things depend upon each other. As predators, birds of prey have their own role to play in this equilibrium.
When the population of top predators decrease, the numbers of their prey species increase, creating an imbalance in the
ecosystem. A reduction in falcons can result in a rodent population increase. Grasslands can be effected, which in turn affects
livestock.
Food Chains
A food chain shows the different organisms that live in a habitat, and what eats what.
Producers and consumers : A food chain always starts with a producer, which is an organism that makes food. This is usually a
green plant, because plants can make their own food by photosynthesis.
A food chain ends with a consumer, which is an animal that eats a plant or another animal. Here is an example of a simple food
chain:
grass → rodent → falcon
Note - the arrow points to the organism that is doing the eating. Showing transfer of energy form one organism to another
The first consumer in a food chain is also called the primary consumer, the next one is the secondary consumer and the one
after that is the tertiary consumer.
A consumer that eats plants is called a herbivore, and a consumer that eats other animals is called a carnivore. An omnivore is
an animal that eats both plants and animals.
Predators and prey A predator is an animal that eats other animals, and the prey is the animal that gets eaten by the predator.
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Student Activities
Food webs
When all the food chains in a habitat are joined up together they form a
food web. The diagram below shows a Mongolian steppe food web
(student activity available)
An increase or decrease of
one animal within the food
web can lead to a
population decrease of
other animals in the food
web. Some animals just eat
more of another organism if
food is in short supply,
while others may starve and
die. This in turn can affect
the populations of other
organisms in the food web
For more information on
food chains and food webs
see BBC Bitesize
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
bitesize/ks3/science/
organisms_behaviour_healt
h/food_chains/revision/1/
The Mongolian Saker Falcon competes for food with other birds of prey. The Golden Eagle and Steppe Eagle also eat rodents
and small birds.
Small birds can be carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. Saker Falcons will also eat insects occasionally.
Prey of Mongolian Saker falcon—Answers for student activity
Mongolian gerbil
Siberian jerboa
Brandt’s vole
Rufous tailed shrike
Long-tailed ground squirrel
Mongolian lark