Eli5: Why do decaying animals smell worse than decaying plants?
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Since it was not mentioned. There is an aerobic decay, and anaerobic decay of organic matter.
Aerobic: Has oxygen, This does not smell bad, regardless of animal or plant. This is what a healthy compost pile will smell like, similar to the floor of a healthy forest.
Anaerobic: Low Oxygen decomposition, This smells terrible, regardless of plant or animal.
Animals are harder to compost aerobically because their nitrogen (protein) is much higher than plant matter, and this material is so nutrient rich that it is easy for the decomposition of it to use up all the oxygen and quickly go anaerobic. (grass clipping are high in nitrogen and can smell horrendous once they go rancid, but if you compost it correctly, then it smells like a forest)
Why they smell bad? Both types od decomp release different gaseous chemicals while Aerobic decomposition microbes are most often harmless, Anaerobic microbes are often dangerous (bad infections), so them smelling different may have been a survival evolution.
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