# What happens when a pack animal dies in the underground den?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-pack-animal-dies-in-the-underground-den/683703>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 14, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-pack-animal-dies-in-the-underground-den/683703 "2014-03-14T17:15:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-pack-animal-dies-in-the-underground-den/683703/21 "2014-03-15T08:04:08Z")

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Good question.

I can tell you anecdotally that it’s common to turn up rabbit bones when ripping active rabbit warrens. So apparently not all the dead rabbits are removed and not all the warrens where a rabbit dies are abandoned. Whether the warrens were abandoned temporarily or partially I have no idea.

ETA. I also thought this thread was about donkeys being dragged into bear dens or something similar.

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**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-pack-animal-dies-in-the-underground-den/683703/22 "2014-03-15T12:46:38Z")

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The scent of death often attracts predators who, recognizing an easy meal, will often extract the animal and consume it. I have seen foxes near me munching on a dead groundhog which they apparently dug out. I know that they didn’t kill it ( groundhogs are a lot tougher than foxes) and there was a hole nearby that looked like it had been disturbed.

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-pack-animal-dies-in-the-underground-den/683703/23 "2014-03-15T14:26:44Z")

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> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> The problem is, you can’t. That is why ant sprays don’t work well to eradicate an entire colony.
> 
> When you see an ant trail, you are only seeing a small fraction of the entire population of the colony at any one time. When you wipe them out by spraying the ones you see, you only get the ones that you get. They spray may leave a residue that will continue killing ants (so it says on the spray can), but the ants will just establish a new trail somewhere else.
> 
> In contrast, the slow acting poisons can wipe out an entire colony. The ants come and eat it, and carry it back to the hive to feed the others – in particular, the queen. After a day or so, they will begin to die off – but by that time, a much greater proportion of the hive may have eaten the poison and are doomed. And the queen may be doomed. This is the much more effective way to wipe out a whole colony.
> 
> And then, as they die, you will start to see dead ant carcasses piling up around the entrances to the nest.

AMDRO \*\*IS \*\*the shit for ants.

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