What happens if an animal dies?

Animals have organic bodies and hence the bodies start degrading, once a animal dies. The degradation results in bad odor and foul smell. The degradation happens both chemically and biologically. The biological degradation is carried out by microorganisms and also by vultures, etc. (if the animal was big enough to feed them). Chemical degradation is carried out by environmental constituents, such as gases in our atmosphere, etc. Thus, the death of an animal provides food to the detrivores and also releases the nutrients into the environment (such as soil). Another aspect of animal death is the effect on its food chain. Depending on its position in the food chain, the animal may have large influence on the other constituents of the chain. For example, if a tiger dies (and there are no other tigers to take its place at the top of food chain), deer population may increase due to lack of predator (or decrease in number of predators).

Hope this helps.