Two weeks ago, a group of scientists started chatting on Twitter about carnivores and their prey, and started sharing gory pictures of carcasses. Things got a little (lightheartedly) competitive, and after Julien Fattebert shared a photo of a leopard cub killed by lions, and added the hashtag #bestcarcass, a Twitter battle was born.
Since then, Twitter users have shared fascinating, strange, and sometimes disturbing images of decaying animals from all over the world in weird and wonderful poses.
Listed below are my top 10 picks (in no particular order) for some of the most taphonomically interesting #bestcarcass contenders. And, unsurprisingly, some people may find the follow images disturbing: click 'read more' at your own peril...
Since then, Twitter users have shared fascinating, strange, and sometimes disturbing images of decaying animals from all over the world in weird and wonderful poses.
Listed below are my top 10 picks (in no particular order) for some of the most taphonomically interesting #bestcarcass contenders. And, unsurprisingly, some people may find the follow images disturbing: click 'read more' at your own peril...
10. This 'wave' of fish in Lake Andes, South Dakota, were actually frozen in a flat slab of ice on the lakes surface. The ice slab was then pushed toward the shoreline and then tilted up by either expanding ice or wind currents. The fish died from anoxic waters (lack of oxygen in the water) caused by low water levels during a drought, and exacerbated by thick ice sheets blocking sunlight and killing oxygen-producing plants and algae.
Frozen fish at Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota, USA. Via @USFWS and Kelly Preheim.
9. This Adelie penguin chick was found frozen and mummified (presumably in Antarctica), and radiocarbon dated, indicating it died around 2000 years ago.
8. It's still a strange site to see, but many classically herbivorous or insect-eating animals have been known to scavenge carcasses, such as these Great Tits in Poland. Meat is a great source of proteins and fats, and animals passing by would be silly not to utilise it. Still a little *blegh* though.
Great tits scavenging a frozen mammal carcass in Poland. Via @thonoir. Click here to see a video of the birds feeding.
7. A horse carcass lies near the bottom of a ravine in the mountains of Parque Valle del Yeso in Chile. When carcasses lay in dry environments for long periods of time, the soft tissues can become desiccated and mummify. They can then hold a skeleton together for hundreds, if not thousands of years! These carcasses are easy to move around in one piece, so people will sometimes prop them up for more dramatic photos, which may be the case here.
Dessicated (dried) horse carcass in Parque Valle del Yeso, Chile. Via @okeeffeml.
6. The first and only invertebrate on my list! This spider from the rainforests of Yasuní National Park in Ecuador has died clinging to a piece of its own web, killed by the fungus that now covers its body.
Spider covered in fungus dangles from its own web in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador. Via and @bioGraphic and @phil_torres.
5. A cow carcass decaying in Tierra del Fuego demonstrates the formation of a cadaver decomposition island (CDI) - where nutrients from the oozing carcass fertilises the soil and allows a lush 'island' of plants, microbes, insects, other small animals to flourish.
A cow carcass decays and fertilises the soil around it, Tierra del Fuego. Via @pseudopodyrlife.
4. This poor frozen fox-icle had the most traction on social media by far, found in the frozen waters of the Danube in Germany. It may have tried walking across the river and fell through thin ice thawed by a source of warmer water nearby. A passing hunter found its frozen carcass and cut it out of the river ice, photographed it, and the rest is #bestcarcass history. Somehow beautiful, but chilling. No pun intended!
Fox froze in the Danube River, cut out in block of ice by a passing hunter. Via @ydillinger.
3. Of course I included a picture of a bloated and floating crocodile. Do you even know me? This crocodile (which could be a Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) or Kenyan Nile crocodile (C. n. pauciscutatus)) is in the second stage of decay, the 'bloat' stage, where decay of internal organs by bacteria produces gases and inflates the carcass. This fine specimen was found floating in the Mara River in Kenya.
Dead and bloated crocodile floating in the Mara River, Kenya. Via @otternonsense6.
2. Somewhat disturbing is the complete lack of entrails in this bobcat carcass from Carrizo, Mexico, found on the doorstep of a house. If this animal was buried in this state and fossilised, would it be obvious that its internal organs were eaten away? Of course the ribs have been gnawed on and broken, but assuming it didn't become a perfect Lagerstatten-type fossil... food for thought. Actually, don't think about food.
Bobcat from Carrizo, Mexico. Via @M0N0TREMATA.
1. Last but not least, look at his beautiful copper green mouse carcass! The blue and green copper colour tinge actually comes from copper chloride, as this mouse was found deep in a copper mine. I'd be really interested to know whether this kind of mineral growth would remain during fossilisation, or be replaced with another mineral species.
Mouse carcass found in a copper mine covered in copper chloride, now housed in A.E. Fersman museum, Moscow. Via @AxelKhin.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed my top 10 #bestcarcass picks! Do you have a favourite that I haven't listed here?
