The "fodder" are a clever way of resource placement.

[CreamCheese]

Watching over this again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljpBwguIqos

I noticed that they put some fodder in areas that drop ammo and stuff right before they go into an area with a few enemies, but not all of them are dropping stuff, even after being meleed.

[AirRaid]

Well done for spotting that very well hidden detail of game design which they haven't explicitly mentioned anywhere.