Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals.[ See also: ] Carrion may be of natural or origin (e.g. wildlife, cadaver, livestock), and enters the food chain via different routes (e.g. animals dying of disease or malnutrition, Predation and Hunting discarding parts of their prey, Roadkill).
Carrion is an important food source for large and in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eating animals include , , , , ,
The act of eating carrion is termed necrophagy or necrophagia,[ See also: ] and organisms that do this are described as or necrophagous animals.[ See also: ] The term scavenger is widely used to describe carrion-eating animals too, but this term is broader in scope, encompassing also the consumption of waste and dead plant material.[ See also: ]
Carrion begins to decay at the moment of the animal's death, and it will increasingly attract insects and breed bacteria. Not long after the animal has died, its body will begin to exude a foul odor caused by the presence of bacteria and the emission of cadaverine and putrescine.
Disease transmission
Carrion can harbor many infectious and disease-causing agents including viruses (e.g.
rabies virus, West Nile virus),
(e.g.
Bacillus anthracis,
Francisella tularensis,
Listeria monocytogenes,
Pasteurella multocida),
bacterial toxins (e.g.
botulinum toxin)
and helminths (e.g.
Trichinella species).
Several outbreaks of disease, attributed to direct or indirect contact with carrion, have been reported in humans
and animals.
Consumption by early hominins and modern humans
Consumption by early hominins
Early
(e.g.
Homo habilis,
Homo erectus) are thought to have obtained at least some of the
protein and
fat in their diet by scavenging
meat and
bone marrow from the carcasses of large mammals abandoned by
Predation.
This is based on several observations. First, tools of the Early Pleistocene (e.g.
Oldowan choppers) were more suited to
butcher carcasses than
hunting. Second, at many archaeological sites, animal bones have been recovered where tool cuts made by
H. habilis are present over tooth marks made by
.
In addition, it has been observed that current-day predators (e.g.
) leave large portions of their kills intact, and it is thought that
Machairodontinae in the Middle Pleistocene would have done likewise.
Later in the Quaternary period, hominins turned more to hunting for food. At what stage this happened is unclear. Some researchers propose that Homo neanderthalensis was more a hunter than a scavenger based on isotope analysis and other evidence.
Consumption by modern humans
Carrion consumption by modern humans (
Homo sapiens) has been documented on several occasions. Examples of carrion eaten include predator kills (e.g.
zebra,
wildebeest,
impala,
giraffe),
beached marine mammals (e.g. dead
whale)
and dead livestock (e.g.
water buffalo).
At least two
Disease outbreak of disease (
anthrax and
botulism) have been reported, one in 1987, the other in 2002.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), additional (unpublished) outbreaks of botulism have occurred from marine carrion consumption.
Unlike , and other carrion-eating animals,
Among modern-day hunter-gatherer communities who regularly eat carrion as part of their diet, some precautionary behaviors have been documented. These include prioritizing reaching carcasses quickly after death, butchering and disemboweling the carcass, and cooking or sun-drying the meat and viscera recovered.
In religious literature
In Noahide law
The thirty-count laws of Ulla (Talmudist) include the prohibition of humans consuming carrion.
[Talmud, Hullin 92b] This count is in addition to the standard seven law count and has been recently published from the Judeo-Arabic writing of Shmuel ben Hophni Gaon after having been lost for centuries.
[Mossad HaRav Kook edition of Gaon's commentary to Genesis.]
In Islam
Animals killed by strangling, a violent blow, a headlong fall, being gored to death, or from which a predatory animal has partially eaten are considered types of carrion, and are forbidden in Islam.
In English literature
Sometimes carrion is used to describe an infected carcass that is diseased and should not be touched. An example of carrion being used to describe dead and rotting bodies in literature may be found in William Shakespeare's play
Julius Caesar (III.i):
[ The Life and Death of Julius Caesar. Scene I. Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above.]
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
Another example can be found in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe when the title character kills an unknown bird for food but finds "its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing".
Carrion flowers and stinkhorn mushrooms
Some plants and
fungus smell like
Decomposition carrion and attract insects that aid in reproduction. Plants that exhibit this behavior are known as
.
are examples of fungi with this characteristic.
Other images
File:Coyoteelk.jpg|A mountain coyote feeding on elk carrion in Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley during winter.
File:Flies settle on a sheep carrion.jpg|Fly settling on sheep carrion.
External links
