Nautilus

Animals’ Wildly Varying Reactions to the Smell of Death

The stinkhorn fungus (officially known as Phallus impudicus—“impudent penis”—for obvious reasons) draws in flies with the rotting-flesh smell of putrescine.ƒred via Flickr

o us humans, the scent of a rotting corpse is universally abhorrent, the very definition of disgusting. But as strong as that reaction is,

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