This short food chain is one part of the forests food web. Another food chain in the same ecosystem might involve completely different organisms. A caterpillar may eat the leaves of a tree in the forest. A bird such as a sparrow may eat the caterpillar. A snake may then prey on the sparrow. An eagle, an apex predator, may prey on the snake. A hawk, another apex predator, may prey on the eagle. Yet another bird, a vulture, consumes the body of the dead hawk. Finally, bacteria in the soil decompose the remains