The worst smells in nature revealed

Dead sea turtle is one of the worst stenches in nature, biologists have revealed.

A Twitter thread started by conservation biologist at the University of Auburn, David Steen, asked: "RT if you're a field biologist and you've ever asked yourself, 'Why do I smell bad?'"

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One scientist replied that a six-week dead fin whale that had been rotting in the sun was the worst smell he'd come across.

Another said leaky anal glands of a once-frozen long-tailed weasel that had thawed in a museum's taxidermy room was a stench they couldn't stand.

Steen's own submission of dead sea turtle topped the list, while dead frogs, vulture puke and fresh skunk were also named in the thread.

Writing about the dead turtle, Steen wrote: "I remember a large dead turtle someone found on the road and put in the bed of their pickup in the GA summer heat. I walked by & puked."

David Syzdek, a wildlife biologist from Las Vegas, agreed, saying: "Dead turtles. The odor destroyed my soul."

Meanwhile, Lauren Gilhooly, a third year PhD student at Western University in Ontario, said the carcass of a rhesus macaque was the worst stench, writing: "A decomposing rhesus macaque in the Puerto Rican heat."