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Why aren't zombies covered with flies?
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Doug
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Jan 14, 2013 01:38PM
After watching countless undead flicks and reading a few dozen books I have yet to read about animated corpses being covered with flies. I've heard of zombies with maggots (Fly larva) and birds plucking at various organs, usually eyeballs, but no flies. What gives. You'd think they'd be positively covered with them. Wouldn't be able to see because of them. I'm looking forward to your answers.
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The most obvious answer would be that there is something about zombie flesh that drives them away. It may not be normal decaying tissue.
Also depending on the type of undead, meaning whether the corpse came from a grave of someone embalmed or a fresh victim. One who has been embalmed resist the decaying process and the chemicals in the formaldehyde would probably act as a fly deterrent.
You guys are the best. I think you're right but what could a zombie excrete that would deter flies? There would have to be a chemical process. How would a zombie parasite or other contagion evolve that trait? The only one I can see is the magic zombies.
Think zombie fallout addressed that (I think..lotta zombie books). Said flys were around, but they were nearby..they wouldn't go next to the deadhead itself because of some tainted something going on...so, they would hover because of the smell, and would attack other..stuff that fell from the zombies..but not the flesh or blood itself because of..who knows..zombie cooties or some such.What a nightmare if they did also..fly bites zombie, takes some infected flesh, then flys over to the survivor bunkhouse and jumps on your stale powdered donut, infecting it...suddenly you just turn zed for seemingly no reason.
(or a mosquito biting and sucking some blood, then going to a norm and being swatted..instant infection via mossy)
Could be a premise for one of the most depressing zombie give up novels ever..
I thought of the mosquito thing before. that would be the worst!
In a recent series I read, the virus could be spread to, and by, rats. They can get into almost anything, if they want to.
I covered this a little in my first book. It only went a week or so into the z/a and just mentioned the hordes of flies a time or two in passing. It isn't just about the zombies, though. Anyone who's been through a natural disaster and prolonged loss of power (I went through hurricane Charley down here in 2004) can tell you that insects and rodents become a real problem. Just think about what's in your fridge. There's rotting food everywhere.
Tis a very good question, reminds me of when they pulled the cow harness up in Jurassic Park and it was ripped to shreds by raptors but no blood. There is a part in my book Red Century when a girl thinks she is being filmed for a low budget horror movie so she is flirting with a real living dead slave and she reaches in its pants disconnects its penis and pulls it out only to realize its still moving because of maggots and red worms.
Jacob wrote: "Tis a very good question, reminds me of when they pulled the cow harness up in Jurassic Park and it was ripped to shreds by raptors but no blood. There is a part in my book Red Century when a girl ..."Eeewww but visually that would be awesome on screen.
Kristin (Blood,Sweat, and Books) wrote: "Jacob wrote: "Tis a very good question, reminds me of when they pulled the cow harness up in Jurassic Park and it was ripped to shreds by raptors but no blood. There is a part in my book Red Centur..."It really would have been!
I always looked at it this way - whatever virus (or whatever) that is reanimating the dead is so unnatural that flies don't even want anything to do with it. It's more than just dead flesh. I also took it one step further, thinking that even the bacteria and such that are the main factors in decomposition are hesitant to attack the reanimated flesh. Which leads to a very slow rate of decomposition. Which is why you couldn't just hunker down and wait for them all to rot and fall over.
Scott wrote: "I always looked at it this way - whatever virus (or whatever) that is reanimating the dead is so unnatural that flies don't even want anything to do with it. It's more than just dead flesh. I also ..."
I always go to Romero solutions. There is a statement somewhere in DAY OF THE DEAD when Dr. Frankenstein says that they do rot, but at a much slower rate. I think he postulates that an animated corpse will last somewhere in the 10-12 year range, if I recall the quote right.
I always go to Romero solutions. There is a statement somewhere in DAY OF THE DEAD when Dr. Frankenstein says that they do rot, but at a much slower rate. I think he postulates that an animated corpse will last somewhere in the 10-12 year range, if I recall the quote right.
I think Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2 (the 1979 zombie classic) is the only zombie film I've seen with a maggoty corpse (but it could have been worms, it's been a while since I've seen it). I'd always assumed the meat was tainted with something that was toxic to them.
Well, zombies don't eat zombies.And you don't see many fully chewed zombies around. When a zombie is eating a human there must come a point when the human ain't a human any more and the zombie stops chewing.
And you almost never see a human survivor eating zombie meat. Because ... ew.
So I'm guessing that zombies don't taste very nice. Think of it as a supernatural sell by date. And that probably keeps the flies off.
H all,A lot of interesting thoughts here, for me,
having recently arrived in this Community!
Notably that thing concerning flies, I didn't even think about it, while writing my first zombie novel that I hope to release in May...
Embalment could perhaps explain why some living dead wouldn't be covered with flies... but what about the human beings infected by the plague while they were living their normal lives, and ao without embalming?
Another thing I've thought about: could the methane produced by the decaying tissues have some surprising side effects?
Do you think that I should begin a new thread about that?
L. H. Tide
L.H. wrote: "H all,Another thing I've thought about: could the methane produced by the decaying tissues have some surprising side effects?
Do you think that I should begin a new thread about that?..."
Ha ha! Yes! You should!
They probably are covered in flies and they probably don;t care. The maggots hatching will cause them to deteriorate faster.
Interesting discussion. I read somewhere (perhaps Max Brooks) about zombies being susceptible to vultures since they can feast on diseased flesh/rotting meat and not be afflicted. I think flies would be amongst zombies is for no other reasons than to lay their eggs. For movie purposes one can see the annoyance of ensuring actors are covered in flies or the extra costs of digitally inserting them in post production. But in books this is something I feel that is overlooked - the smell and the insects.
