---
title: "Animal Nutrition"
description: "Understand that animals, including humans, need the right types and amounts of nutrition, and that animals cannot make their own food"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animal-nutrition-mt_E1wR8IfCV6
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animal-nutrition-mt_E1wR8IfCV6.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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# Animal Nutrition

Understand that animals, including humans, need the right types and amounts of nutrition, and that animals cannot make their own food

Subject: Science · Area: Organisms & Life Processes · Ages 7 to 8
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/animal-nutrition-mt_E1wR8IfCV6

## Ready when they can

- Name the main food groups: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre, water
- Explain that animals get energy from food they eat, unlike plants which make their own
- Describe what happens with too much or too little of a food group (e.g. weak bones without calcium)

## Lesson: Why Animals Need to Eat

Your tummy grumbles when you have not eaten in a while, because your body needs food to keep going. Animals cannot make their own food the way plants do. Instead, animals eat food to get the energy they need to move, grow, and stay healthy.

*(drawing: These are the seven main nutrients your body needs from food every day.)*

**Example.** Mia's lunch has bread, chicken, and an apple. Bread gives her carbohydrates for energy. Chicken gives her protein to help her grow. The apple gives her fibre and vitamins. Toast and pasta give carbohydrates like bread does. Eggs give protein like chicken does, and juice gives vitamins like an apple does. Together, these foods help her body work well.

Eating too much or too little of one nutrient can cause problems. Not getting enough calcium, a mineral found in milk and cheese, can leave your bones weak. Eating a mix of foods with different nutrients every day keeps your body strong.

**Recap.** Animals cannot make their own food, so eating the right mix of foods each day gives the body the energy and nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Herbivores, Carnivores & Omnivores](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/herbivores-carnivores-and-omnivores-mt_13CtLTcWUB)
- [What Living Things Need](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/what-living-things-need-mt_L1469gt34A)

## Opens up

- [Diet, Exercise & Lifestyle](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/diet-exercise-and-lifestyle-mt_2x-EwdBsgl)
- [Food Chains & Energy Transfer](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/food-chains-and-energy-transfer-mt_oB-L8EVdIP)
- [Energy from Food & the Sun](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/energy-from-food-and-the-sun-mt_PYPs2yD2sn)
- [Balanced Diet & Food Groups](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/balanced-diet-and-food-groups-mt_QhLAeAlHI0)
- [The Digestive System](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/the-digestive-system-mt_Ruk2-lyGPZ)
- [Nutrients in a Healthy Diet](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/nutrients-in-a-healthy-diet-mt_sDmrVCfzqt)