Carrion (from Latin caro 'meat'), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals.
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Transcription
When a creature croaks, its natural defenses fail and tiny decomposers start digging in within just five minutes. To deter bigger carnivores in search of a meal, some feasting microbes produce toxins like anthrax and botulinum, tiny doses of which are fatal to much of the animal kingdom. Yet many scavengers get shoulder-deep in dead meat without seeming to suffer - and we’re just beginning to understand how they do it. Quality control is one of their earliest lines of defense. Wolves and foxes have been known to pass up diseased reindeer carcasses in favor of prey killed by other predators, although it’s not yet clear how they can tell the difference. And, despite their reputation, spotted hyenas prefer to dine on fresh meat, minimizing their contact with microbes. But sometimes, severely rotten flesh is the only item on the menu. And some scavengers, such as burying beetles and vultures, actually seek out putrid carrion because it’s easier to detect, dig into, and defend. To combat the microorganisms in these meals, the beetles smear carcasses with antimicrobial slime before feeding. Other scavengers prefer an after-dinner antibiotic. Bearded vultures assault microbes with stomach acid that's ten times more acidic than our own, and strong enough to corrode steel. But some tenacious pathogens, including the ones that cause botulism and tetanus, make it through this caustic cauldron and thrive in the intestines beyond. We’re not sure how vultures survive their first few toxic exposures, but we know that with each encounter, their immune systems churn out more and more antibodies, building resistance to the toxins. Socializing can also give scavengers an immune boost. Hyenas and lions, for instance, likely pass small doses of germs around as they groom, eat, and compete with each other, which may help build up group-wide immunity to toxins like anthrax. Similarly, we humans have established our own herd immunity through controlled exposure to diseases like meningitis and smallpox - we call it vaccination. But we have yet to beat botulism or anthrax, so perhaps we can scavenge some of these scavengers’ tricks – after all, we have more in common with them than we may like to admit.
Overview
Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures, condors, hawks, eagles,[1] hyenas,[2] Virginia opossum,[3] Tasmanian devils,[4] coyotes[5] and Komodo dragons. Many invertebrates, such as the carrion and burying beetles,[6] as well as maggots of calliphorid flies (such as one of the most important species in Calliphora vomitoria) and flesh-flies, also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains.[7]
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.
Some plants and fungi smell like decomposing carrion and attract insects that aid in reproduction. Plants that exhibit this behavior are known as carrion flowers. Stinkhorn mushrooms are examples of fungi with this characteristic.
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):[8]
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".
Consumption by humans
In Noahide law
The thirty-count laws of Ulla (Talmudist) include the prohibition of humans consuming carrion.[9] This count is in addition to the standard seven law count and has been recently[when?] published from the Judeo-Arabic writing of Shmuel ben Hophni Gaon after having been lost for centuries.[10]
References
- ^ Hovenden, Frank. The Carrion Eaters Archived 1 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Comox Valley Naturalists Society. 7 May 2010.
- ^ "San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes: Striped hyena". San Diego Zoo. 7 May 2010.
- ^ Len McDougall (2004). The Encyclopedia of Tracks and Scats: A Comprehensive Guide to the Trackable Animals of the United States and Canada. Globe Pequot. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-59228-070-4.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes: Tasmanian Devil". San Diego Zoo. 7 May 2010.
- ^ Stegemann, Eileen. "Skull Science: Coyote". NYS Department of Environmental Conservation April 2006
- ^ John George Wood (1892). Insects abroad: Being a popular account of foreign insects; their structure, habits and transformations. Longmans. pp. 82–. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ Ames, C.; Turner, B. (2003). "Low temperature episodes in development of blowflies: implications for postmortem interval estimation". Medical and Veterinary Entomology. 17 (2): 178–186. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2915.2003.00421.x. ISSN 1365-2915. PMID 12823835. S2CID 10805033.
- ^ The Life and Death of Julius Caesar. SCENE I. Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above.
- ^ Talmud, Hullin 92b
- ^ Mossad HaRav Kook edition of Gaon's commentary to Genesis.
This page was last edited on 13 March 2024, at 15:09