To an ant there's no distinction. They don't think in terms of "this is stinky/dead", more like "this smells like oleic acid so it goes over there." FWIW this

To an ant there's no distinction. They don't think in terms of "this is stinky/dead", more like "this smells like oleic acid so it goes over there." FWIW this was tested by putting oleic acid on bits of paper: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6400/112aff930da566312315efcb8d1e48769d21.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6400/112aff930da566312315ef... They would sometimes carry it to the burial site and other times they would carry it back and treat it as a food item. The "decision" is said to be based on the current "social context" (read: goals of the ant or colony). Also a note on that poor ant they coated with the stuff; she cleaned herself off and was back to work after an hour or two.