The sequence begins with detection. Adults locate a small carcass by scent, often within hours of death, and a pair excavates soil from beneath it until it sinks below ground. They remove hair or feathers, work the flesh into a compact ball, and apply oral and anal secretions with antimicrobial properties that slow decay and suppress competing microbes.
Biparental care follows. Larvae hatch nearby, move to the carcass, and beg from the parents, who regurgitate predigested tissue to them, a behaviour that in beetles is rare and closer to what is seen in birds. Parents also defend the resource against rival beetles and against flies, and adjust brood size by consuming some larvae when the carcass is too small.
The conservation picture explains the effort. Nicrophorus americanus needs relatively large carcasses in the 100 to 200 gram range, and its decline has been linked to changes in the availability of such carrion, habitat fragmentation and artificial light, though no single cause is agreed.