Credit: CLOUDS HILL IMAGING LTD/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Caption: Decayed dead rabbit, on a forest floor. The insides of the rabbit have rotted away or been consumed by scavenging insects, microbes and other decomposer organisms. The process of decomposition of animal bodies starts at the point of death. It involves autolysis (the internal breakdown of tissues) and putrefaction (the breakdown of tissues by microbes). Carrion beetles, mites and flies and their larvae (maggots) scavenge and feed on the flesh of the carcass. The remains include the fur, seen here.

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