Norwegian SciTech News<\/a>.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2575019.webp\" "\\"Animals")
<\/p>\n
\n Animals like bears love the tasty marrow hidden inside bones. To get to it, they have to crush the bones first.
\n (Photo: Dan J Rozak \/ Shutterstock \/ NTB)\n <\/p>\n
Sinks into the ground<\/p>\n
After a while, more microorganisms join the feast. <\/p>\n
“They reproduce quickly,” says Linnell.<\/p>\n
As fungi and bacteria feed on the bird, they create heat, fluids, and gases that help break down the body.<\/p>\n
“Some of it seeps into the soil, becoming nourishment for plants and insects,” he says.<\/p>\n
Flies and beetles lay their eggs in the carcass.<\/p>\n
“And after a few days, hundreds of thousands of larvae hatch,” he says.<\/p>\n
Then a small army of larvae forms, consuming most of the soft tissue. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2575015.webp\" "\\"Microorganisms")
<\/p>\n
\n Microorganisms are so tiny we can’t see them. But they do an important job \u2013 breaking down dead animals.
\n (Photo: William Edge \/ Shutterstock \/ NTB)\n <\/p>\n
Bones and all<\/p>\n
The larger guests want a share too.<\/p>\n
“Crows, ravens, magpies, and eagles follow the scent, and so do foxes, badgers, and other creatures,” he says.<\/p>\n
Small animals like mice and birds are usually eaten entirely by scavengers such as foxes or ravens. <\/p>\n
“Bones and all,” says Linnell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there aren’t many animals that can chew through the large bones of moose or deer.<\/p>\n
Those take time.<\/p>\n
Want to gnaw in peace<\/p>\n
“Larger animals, like foxes, often bite off and drag away larger parts, such as bones or the head,” says the researcher.<\/p>\n
They do this to gnaw in peace or to bury the pieces and save them for later. <\/p>\n
“Wolverines are especially known for that,” he says.<\/p>\n
They tear off large chunks and hide them in bogs, streams, underground, or in snow \u2013 returning weeks or even months later to retrieve them. <\/p>\n
Bones are healthy<\/p>\n
Large animals such as foxes, badgers, wolverines, bears, and wolves often try to break open bones.<\/p>\n
“Inside lies the marrow, a fatty, energy-rich substance,” says Linnell.<\/p>\n
Even the bones themselves are valuable.<\/p>\n
“Mice sometimes gnaw on old bones to get essential minerals,” he says.<\/p>\n
After enough chewing and gnawing, even the biggest bones break apart. <\/p>\n
“And once that happens, the process speeds up,” he says.<\/p>\n
Weather, wind, and other animals can reach what’s left more easily.<\/p>\n
In the end, the animal seems to disappear completely, because nature leaves nothing to waste.<\/p>\n
It’s a vast collaboration between invisible microorganisms, insects, birds, and other animals. The nutrients find a new home.<\/p>\n
“Death is simply the beginning of new life,” says Linnell.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik<\/p>\n
Read the Norwegian version of this article on ung.forskning.no<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Life has flourished on Earth for billions of years. Animals with skeletons have lived and died for hundreds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-306272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2574767.webp\" "\\"Researcher")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2575013.webp\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\n