Zombies with Predator style heat vision

[Pro Assasin]

I've been thinking about this for a while and i've come to the conclusion that zombies must have some kind of heat vision like the Predator did. The reason i think this is how else would they be able to tell a living person from another dead zombie. This would also explain why the zombies in land of the dead were distracted by the fire works and why you can use fire to distact them or scare them. It would also explain why the zombies would head for the mall in Dawn of the dead as the malls heating must have been automated and this would have heated up the building and attracted the zombies to it. What do you guys thinks? Also do you think if you could in some way heat up a zombie would the other zombies attack it? If my theory is correct you could use the fact that they are attracted to heat to lure them into some kind of trap or pen so that you can dispose of them easily? Also that would mean that when they characters in shaun of the dead tried to pretend they was zombies they would have just been ripped apart.

[Philly_SWAT]

This is definately an interesting theory, one I have not heard before. But I dont agree with it. Here is why. Remember, a key element to the zombies is "They're us". How can you tell a cat from a dog? You just can. You dont have to think hard about it. You dont have to think at all about it, you just know. The zombies used to be just like you, they can tell the difference between a zombie and a living person just as easily as you can tell the difference between a cat and a dog. As far as fireworks and fire, have you ever known a living person to not be distracted by fireworks? I mean, if there was a fireworks display going on as you were standing outside, would you look at it, or just keep doing whatever you were doing? And fire, if someone was waving a torch in your face, would you stand there calmly, or would you back away in fear? Again, just human instincts. As far as the mall goes, why do they go there? Instinct. It was an important place in their lives. I dont think they were attracted by heat in any way. So I dont think if you could heat a zombie that other would attack, unless perhaps you heated their blood in someway. They are after warm, human flesh. Even then, they may still recognize the blood-heated zombie as just a zombie, and not attack them. Also, no heat related trap would work, unless the "heat" were generated by a living body. For example, if you trapped your next door neighbor in a cage, put the cage in the back of a pen, etc, that would work. Zombie would enter the pen to get to the cage full of warm human flesh, then you could close the pen behind them. Hopefully for your neighbor, some type escape for him was planned beforehand. Welcome to the board, btw.

[creepntom]

how about this, if the dead come back & start eating people, you cover yourself with mud & see if they notice you the rest of us will watch from a safe spot

[Rottedfreak]

Seems to be just noise, and possibly smell. Heat vision doesn't work out as they'd just stare up at the sun all day and it doesnt include X ray vision.

[Graebel]

how about this, if the dead come back & start eating people, you cover yourself with mud & see if they notice you the rest of us will watch from a safe spot This only works if you look like Ah-nold.

[hadrian0117]

Seems to be just noise, and possibly smell. Heat vision doesn't work out as they'd just stare up at the sun all day and it doesnt include X ray vision. (bolding mine) Which raises another question, if zombies can't breath how can they smell things? And why are they better at finding survivors than other survivors?

[Exatreides]

Pharamons?

[Maitreya]

They have a sense of smell apparently...

[Pro Assasin]

I still think heat vision is the most likely of all the possible ways they could tell the difference between a living person and a dead zombie. But of course this all depends on what causes the dead to become zombies in the first place. If the bodys are reanimated using a virus or bacteria then depending on how the infection changes the body i would imagine heat vision or may be an increased sense of smell (or both) would be a very possible way for the zombie to detect the living. However if the zombies are created using voodoo magic then you could just use magic to explain away there ability to tell the difference. However in George A Romero's films there is no indepth explaination of why the dead are rising so this leaves a lot of open questions. However as the zombies in his films are actualy dead and not just sick people then it is unlikley that they would be breathing so that would make it very hard for them to use smell to detect the living. Plus if you look at there eyes in land of the dead they look altered in some way. They dont look like a dead persons eyes they look different. So some sort of vison enhancment would make more sense.

[Dommm]

the fact that they are dead would seem to suggest to me that the fluid in the eyes would eventully dry and thus there would be no image to imprint. If you dont breathe unlikly you will be able to smell. I think it is more likly they just sense you there using somthing along the lines of esp/sith sense. farfetched but i think this is more likley as maybe the current that travels round the body of the living is somhow changed in the dead making it easier for them to distinguish

[AcesandEights]

Heat vision? No. Definitely an interesting idea, but why dream up something like heat vision that would take another great leap in the physiological abilities of the undead when there are so many more basic reasons such as: 1) Scent or hyper-sesitivity to pheromonal discharge. Most of us pick up on scents and pheromones (whether we know it or not). And, contrary to what is mentioned above, the ability to smell doesn't necessitate the act of breathing, only the passage of air over olfactory receptors in the nose. Now not breathing may seem, on the face of it, to put a damper on smelling, but it could still work in a passive form. 2) Innate memory that allows the dead to go where 'they' would have once been either out of a sense of security, a need for safety or just a learned response. 3) Hyper-sensitive senses in general. Common wisdom holds that people who are distratcted, have a lot on their mind, or are overly dependent on one or more of their senses may not be in tune with all of their senses, and--indeed--their general surroundings. Isn't it possible when activity in the brain dedicated to higher functions isn't active that the senses (for a time before major decomposition sets in) might be that much more potent? You don't have to worry about where your car keys are, what the date of your anniversary is, keep an eye open for possible danger or use a lot of your higher brain functions. A zombies mind is attuned to one thing only, and that is the need to feed; a more clarion call could not be sounded. 4) Flying Zombies. This is why the flying zombies pwn--they can scout out other survivors more easily and telepathically pass on the information to their zombie cohorts.

[Maitreya]

4) Flying Zombies. This is why the flying zombies pwn--they can scout out other survivors more easily and telepathically pass on the information to their zombie cohorts. Yes. I strongly agree. But it's probably more along the lines of a sixth sense that makes it so they can somehow tell the difference. If you're starting to think, "Well that doesn't sound possible, why would they have a sixth sense after dying?" don't even... Because you should first be asking, "Why the **** are dead people getting back up?"

[Deadman_Deluxe]

how about this, if the dead come back & start eating people, you cover yourself with mud & see if they notice you the rest of us will watch from a safe spot Hahaha .... exactly what i was thinking

[MissJacksonCA]

In the Walking Dead novels they suggested it was the smell... we dont smell like the rotting flesh that they smell like and we aren't covered in blood and maggots and such. In the Walking Dead novels they suggested it was the smell... we dont smell like the rotting flesh that they smell like and we aren't covered in blood and maggots and such. Shaun of the Dead seemed to suggest that if you walk and talk like them you're obviously one of them. Which I can see too because in Dawn they were moving pretty fast to attack the woman in the bus but the naked blond girl who was just waltzing around Annas car was left alone. But I think the body heat thing makes more sense. Especially when you consider your theory on why they were so attracted to the mall. Also once you die your body temperature lowers as rigor sets in. If you lure zombies you'd have to be able to kill them all. You're thinking that you'll have a sufficient supply of ammo with which to kill the zombies and thats simply unrealistic. While i'm sure bullets outnumber all living creatures in the U.S. the accessibility of them is slim and to get to such a cache would pose a challenge in itself. I can't imagine how you'd make a zombie hot short of lighting it on fire and then I think the zombies wouldnt attack it. I never acutually bought that the zombies went to the mall because it was an important place in their life. I figure they'd either be home or at the place where they work. Zombies could in fact be more like birds in the sense that when you see a swarm of swallows or something and they rapidly fly one way and then dart to the other direction they're generally following the birds next to them and all essentially following one or two leaders who just happen to be moving in one paticular direction. This question is really hard to answer because zombies from all the different movies are different. The GAR zombies seemed to just roam around and if something moved faster and more nimble than they did they'd attack it. Its like that feeling that someones walking behind you and you have the instinct to turn around and whack at it or find out what it is. The Dawn zombies seemed to be looking for food in a similar manner. The ROTLD freezer zombie could tell the two dudes were already dead and thus explains why he went straight for Clu Galager. Really hard to say but a wonderful question

[MissJacksonCA]

In the Walking Dead novels they suggested it was the smell... we dont smell like the rotting flesh that they smell like and we aren't covered in blood and maggots and such.