As the scavengers tear apart a dead animal, the decomposers begin their work. Insects are very important decomposers. Fly maggots, ants, beetles, moths and others continue to break down the dead animal. They eat it, lay their eggs on it (which hatch into larvae that eat it), or chew through it. Bacteria and fungi continue the process of decomposition until nothing is left, and all the energy that was once in the animal is used up by other living things. This all sounds pretty disgusting, but think about a world with no scavengers or decomposers to clean up dead things. Yuck!!