Carrion is an important food source for large [[carnivore]]s and [[omnivore]]s in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or [[scavenger]]s) include crows[[crow]]s [[vulture]]s, [[condor]]s, [[hawk]]s, [[eagle]]s,<ref>Hovenden, Frank. [http://www.comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca/wild_side/2003/vulture.html The Carrion Eaters] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601062448/http://www.comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca/wild_side/2003/vulture.html |date=1 June 2010 }}. Comox Valley Naturalists Society. 7 May 2010.</ref> [[hyena]]s,<ref>[http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-striped_hyena.html "San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes: Striped hyena"]. San Diego Zoo. 7 May 2010.</ref> [[Virginia opossum]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Len McDougall|title=The Encyclopedia of Tracks and Scats: A Comprehensive Guide to the Trackable Animals of the United States and Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XOc2_u7z6cC&pg=PA274|date=2004|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=978-1-59228-070-4|page=274}}</ref> [[Tasmanian devil]]s,<ref>[http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-tasmanian_devil.html "San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes: Tasmanian Devil"]. San Diego Zoo. 7 May 2010.</ref> [[coyote]]s<ref>Stegemann, Eileen. [http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/skullscience.pdf "Skull Science: Coyote"]. NYS Department of Environmental Conservation April 2006</ref> and [[Komodo dragon]]s. Many invertebrates, such as the [[Silphidae|carrion and burying beetle]]s,<ref>{{cite book|author=John George Wood|title=Insects abroad: Being a popular account of foreign insects; their structure, habits and transformations|url=https://archive.org/details/insectsabroadb00wood|access-date=27 November 2011|year=1892|publisher=Longmans|pages=[https://archive.org/details/insectsabroadb00wood/page/82 82]–}}</ref> as well as [[maggot]]s of [[Calliphoridae|calliphorid flies]] (such as one of the most important species in ''[[Calliphora vomitoria]]'') and [[Flesh-fly|flesh-flies]], also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ames|first1=C.|last2=Turner|first2=B.|s2cid=10805033|date=2003|title=Low temperature episodes in development of blowflies: implications for postmortem interval estimation|journal=Medical and Veterinary Entomology|language=en|volume=17|issue=2|pages=178–186|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2915.2003.00421.x|pmid=12823835|issn=1365-2915}}</ref>
[[File:Fish-Food-in-the-Deep-Sea-Revisiting-the-Role-of-Large-Food-Falls-pone.0096016.s005.ogv|thumb|[[Zoarcidae|Zoarcid fish]] feeding on the carrion of a [[Mobula|mobulid ray]].]]