• Question: Why do bugs eat leaves ?

    Asked by 349evnb33 to Adam, Thad on 19 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      Plants are special because they can make food by using light energy from the sun – this is called photosynthesis. Animals can’t do this! So plants can turn energy than animals can’t use, into energy that animals can use. If no animals ate plants then animals wouldn’t have any way to get energy. But because some animals eat plants, even animals that don’t eat plants can get energy (by eating the animals that ate the plants!)

      Leaves are made mostly of cellulose which is a type of carbohydrate – which is a great source of energy for animals! But remember not all bugs do eat leaves – some of them suck blood/eat fruit/ suck sap from the plant stem/ eat other bugs – so there’s lots of interesting things going on out there!

    • Photo: Thaddeus Aid

      Thaddeus Aid answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      Hi,

      Leaves are the place where plants make their energy by converting sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugar. Since animals can’t make their own food we rely on plants to make all the food for us. This is why bugs eat leaves, because that is where the sugar is made!

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