Editing Carrion

{{Short description|Dead and decaying flesh of an animal}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
[[File:WedgetailEagleCarrion.jpg|thumb|A [[wedge-tailed eagle]] and carrion ([[roadkill]] [[kangaroo]]) in the [[Pilbara]] region of [[Western Australia]]]]

'''Carrion''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|caro}}|meat}}), also known as a '''carcass''', is the decaying flesh of dead animals.

==Overview==
Carrion is an important food source for large [[carnivore]]s and [[omnivore]]s in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or [[scavenger]]s) include [[crow]]s,  [[vulture]]s, [[human]]s, [[hawk]]s, [[eagle]]s,<ref>Hovenden, Frank. [http://www.comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca/wild_side/2003/vulture.html The Carrion Eaters] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601062448/http://www.comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca/wild_side/2003/vulture.html |date=1 June 2010 }}. Comox Valley Naturalists Society. 7 May 2010.</ref> [[hyena]]s,<ref>[http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/striped-hyena "San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes: Striped hyena"]. San Diego Zoo. 7 May 2010.</ref> [[Virginia opossum]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Len McDougall|title=The Encyclopedia of Tracks and Scats: A Comprehensive Guide to the Trackable Animals of the United States and Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XOc2_u7z6cC&pg=PA274|date=2004|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=978-1-59228-070-4|page=274}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Tasmanian devil]]s,<ref>[http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/tasmanian-devil "San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes: Tasmanian Devil"]. San Diego Zoo. 7 May 2010.</ref> [[coyote]]s<ref>Stegemann, Eileen. [http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/skullscience.pdf "Skull Science: Coyote"]. NYS Department of Environmental Conservation April 2006</ref> and [[Komodo dragon]]s. Many invertebrates, such as the [[Silphidae|carrion and burying beetle]]s,<ref>{{cite book|author=John George Wood|title=Insects abroad: Being a popular account of foreign insects; their structure, habits and transformations|url=https://archive.org/details/insectsabroadb00wood|access-date=27 November 2011|year=1892|publisher=Longmans|pages=[https://archive.org/details/insectsabroadb00wood/page/82 82]–}}</ref> as well as [[maggot]]s of [[Calliphoridae|calliphorid flies]] (such as one of the most important species in ''[[Calliphora vomitoria]]'') and [[Flesh-fly|flesh-flies]], also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ames|first1=C.|last2=Turner|first2=B.|s2cid=10805033|date=2003|title=Low temperature episodes in development of blowflies: implications for postmortem interval estimation|journal=Medical and Veterinary Entomology|language=en|volume=17|issue=2|pages=178–186|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2915.2003.00421.x|pmid=12823835|issn=1365-2915}}</ref>

[[File:Fish-Food-in-the-Deep-Sea-Revisiting-the-Role-of-Large-Food-Falls-pone.0096016.s005.ogv|thumb|[[Zoarcidae|Zoarcid fish]] feeding on the carrion of a [[Mobula|mobulid ray]].]]
[[File:Flies settle on a sheep carrion.jpg|thumb|[[Fly|Flies]] settling on a [[sheep]] carrion]]
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 [[fungus|fungi]] smell like [[Decomposition|decomposing]] carrion and attract insects that aid in reproduction. Plants that exhibit this behavior are known as [[carrion flower]]s. [[Phallaceae|Stinkhorn mushroom]]s are examples of fungi with this characteristic.
[[File:Coyoteelk.jpg|thumb|A [[mountain coyote|coyote]] feeding on [[elk]] carrion in [[Yellowstone National Park]]'s Lamar Valley during winter.]]
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 (play)|Julius Caesar]]'' (III.i):<ref>[http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/julius_caesar.3.1.html The Life and Death of Julius Caesar]. Scene I. Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above.</ref>

<blockquote><poem>Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.</poem></blockquote>

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===
{{main|Noahide laws}}
The thirty-count laws of [[Ulla (Talmudist)]] include the prohibition of humans consuming carrion.<ref>Talmud, Hullin 92b</ref> This count is in addition to the standard seven law count and has been recently{{when|date=September 2018}} published from the Judeo-Arabic writing of [[Shmuel ben Hophni Gaon]] after having been lost for centuries.<ref>[[Mossad HaRav Kook]] edition of Gaon's commentary to Genesis.</ref>

===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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Halal Food Handbook |date=2019 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc |isbn=978-1-118-82311-8 |editor-last=Al-Teinaz |editor-first=Yunes Ramadan |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |editor-last2=Spear |editor-first2=Stuart |editor-last3=Abd El-Rahim |editor-first3=Ibrahim H. A.}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Animal death]]
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[[Category:Ecology]]
[[Category:Zoology]]