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But you wouldn't say that a dead plant is still living either.

There are plenty of cases in which you would say a dead plant is still alive. Cut flowers are still alive. Seeds and spores are alive. They aren't living in the way that an animal is before it is dead, though.

What does that actually mean?

Ask Descartes, or Derrida, or Deleuze.. etc. It's a big ol' question. I'm just trying to assert that the idea of an animal being anything other than material once dead isn't a rare or unconsidered one.