Large-mammal carrion and their key role in nature

Dead animals are indispensable in nature. The corpse of a large dead animal serves as a bustling restaurant, where hundreds of other animals come to feast. Impressive species such as ravens, foxes or white-tailed eagles, but also smaller creatures such as carrion beetles, flies and clothes moths. Carcasses thus form the final link in an ingenious food chain. The death of one animal means survival for another.

However, leaving the corpses of large dead animals in the wild is unusual in the Netherlands. For example, horses and cattle grazing in nature reserves are subject to agricultural regulations and, unlike wild animals which are allowed to remain where they lie, must be removed after their death. "Death gives life" (Dood doet Leven) is committed to the return of dead animals and large scavengers to the wild. ARK illustrator Jeroen Helmer has depicted the key role of dead animals in nature.