eli5 Why aren’t there more dead bird/animal bodies around?
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They get eaten up pretty fast. Vultures and similar scavenger birds can smell a dead animal from miles away it doesn’t even have to be rotting, fresh roadkill for example.
If the larger animals don’t get to them then the ants and flies and maggots and worms will.
It’s pretty rare to see an animal die of natural causes. usually when they become weak or old they are more noticeable by predators (unable to defend or hide themselves properly, they are also rejected by others, so a bird won’t have the protection of a flock) this makes them easy targets for a hunt. Also if an animal does die from sickness, it’s not going to be in the middle of a sidewalk or field but they will be resting in their nest or a hiding spot.
Also you’re not stumbling into their territory but often times you will see roadkill.
Many moons ago I killed a coral snake and put it in an otherwise empty metal trash can with a lid on it because i didn’t want the idiot dog to eat a venomous snake and maybe get poisoned by the fangs/head.
There were some small holes in the can, way too small for the snake but plenty big for fire ants.
When I checked on it the next morning what little skeleton was left was covered in fire ants.
The ants picked the bones clean in under a day.
No help from flies, beetles, birds, raccoons or any other critter.
Just the ants.
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