13 DECOMPOSING ANIMALS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - BIOLOGY - 2025

The decomposers animals are considered agencies take advantage of waste from other living beings. These animals are found both inside living beings, recycling carbon dioxide that plants will then use to photosynthesize, and inside, consuming all the matter and energy that the rest of these living beings can expel..

Thus, they take advantage of the waste of other living beings, creating a balance in the environment. The process begins when some animal or plant dies. Little by little, different decomposing animals appear and are born, which consume what remains of organic or living matter, and then convert it into inorganic.

Decomposing animals, contrary to what most may think, are an important element in the food chain, since they are the ones who end the cycle, and in turn, start a new cycle.

These organisms, decomposers, perform all the functions contrary to those of producer animals, and yet they complement each other.

The decomposing animals have the function of releasing different products, which are then used by the producing animals, helping them to replace any inorganic mass, making it organic.

Around us and on a daily basis, we can observe different decomposing animals, without many times having the knowledge that this is their nature and they are classified in that way.

Decomposing animals are divided into four groups: insects, bacteria, fungi, and scavengers.

Examples of decomposing animals

The blowflies

They feed on dead animals, turn fecal matter into organic matter and are also part of the food chain, since they serve as food for other animals, such as birds and rodents.

Spiders

They are one of the most important decomposing animals, since they are the ones who consume the most insects, helping to regulate their number present in nature.

The beetles

Depending on the species, they can feed on leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds, other insects, roots, food is decomposition, fungi, among others.

The mosquitos

Most of these insects spend their entire lives without disturbing humans, feeding on fruits and plants.

Vultures

Depending on the species, their diet varies. Some feed on entrails and meat, others survive on bones and corpses.

Crows

They devour food waste left by humans and the feces of different kinds of animals.

Green flies

They feed on canine feces, decaying food, animals and plants.

Wasps

They don't just feed on the nectar of flowers. In their initial stage they consume larvae and throughout their lives they can catch different insects, fallen fruits and carrion.

Ants

They serve as food for many animals. For example, there are a series of fungi that are responsible for infecting ants, until they die.

The fungus then reproduces on its carcass, until a sporocarp (another kind of fungus) is born. On the other hand, different birds mistake the red body of some ants for fruits and eat them.

In another role, ants also carry the fecal matter of some birds to other animals for consumption.

Lions

As decomposers, they are classified as scavengers, that is, they feed on carcasses and waste.

Water mold

They consume all the flora that is in a state of decomposition.

Azotobacter bacteria

They feed on the roots of some plants.

Pseudomonas bacteria

This type of bacteria is responsible for the consumption of flowers and animals that have died and are in a state of decomposition.

Classification of decomposing animals

Of the decomposing animals mentioned above, the first four belong to the group of insects. These are active participants in active in the different phases of decomposition of any organism, their main objective is to place their young everywhere.

On the other hand, from vultures to ants they are innate scavengers. These animals do not contribute any type of organic matter to the environment, they simply feed on the bodies of dead animals, in some way, purifying nature. Also, they are not part of the food chain.

However, there are some mammals that, when in dire need, become scavengers, this is the case with lions and hyenas.

Aquatic mold and parasites are part of fungi, which help in the process of decomposing fecal matter and various withered and fallen flowers. In this classification we can also find saprobes and mutualists.

The last two animals on the list belong - as their name indicates - to the group of bacteria. These are found throughout the environment, from water, air and soil, to the interior of different living beings, they are responsible for decomposing all the matter that is dying little by little and discarding carbon dioxide, turning it into nutrients.

The azotobacter bacteria are found in the roots of different food plants and pseudomonas bacteria and others, such as achromobacter and actinobacter, are important and vital, since they are guarantors of all the decomposition of the varied fauna and flora that have died.

Thanks to the purifying action carried out by these animals, they are positioned with a high level of importance in the food chain.

And although as human beings, we may think that they are unpleasant, they maintain a balance in our ecosystem, and with multiple actions, they are in charge of nourishing the plants and discarding everything that is no longer useful.

A world without decomposing animals would be a planet and a nature full of insects, corpses and waste that alone could not degrade, bringing a lot of diseases to both humans and animals.

References

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