Jonathan Lambert

Another study found that civets and other scavengers in Malaysia actually reduce the amount of diarrhea-causing bacteria that build up on flies by quickly eating carrion so flies have less time to multiply.

Flies are a big vector for these kinds of diseases, so reducing the bacteria load on them could lead to fewer people getting sick.

They're kind of cat-like, but also like a long-legged weasel.

Google them after this.

And turtles in Australia eating carrion was associated with improvements in water quality in wetlands.

The list really goes on and on, but there's one big problem.

Yeah, like I mentioned, many of these species are declining.

Chinmay and his colleagues published a big analysis of all this work in the journal PNAS in June, looking for broader patterns on how scavenging species influence health, and also how those scavenging species are doing.

They looked at over 1,300 species and found that up to 36% are declining or threatened with extinction.

Yeah, it's a combination of habitat loss, hunting, and the wildlife trade.

But they found that not all scavengers were equally at risk.

The biggest, most specialized scavengers, things like vultures or hyenas, were more likely to be threatened.

Smaller or less specialized scavengers who sometimes eat carrion but can eat other things, too.

Think things like rats or mice or in India, feral dogs.

Chinmay actually thought that going into his study, but he and his colleagues ended up finding that these smaller scavengers just aren't as good at scavenging as what they call apex scavengers.

Yeah.

And smaller scavengers like rats or dogs are more likely to carry pathogens themselves.

Plus, humans are a lot more likely to come into close contact with those than, say, a vulture.

Chinmay says basically that a world with fewer apex scavengers is one that could make humans sicker.

Other researchers I spoke to agreed.