zombies and climate

[04]

wouldnt the climate were a zombie is at effect it? for example wouldnt a zed in death valley walking around in 120 degree temps have its brain fried from the heat or zeds in places on earth that get very very cold just freeze solid? what about those in jungles that would be wet 90% of the time, wouldnt that speed up the decaying process because jungles can eat flesh off people that are still alive. also if theyre in say the sahara desert wouldnt they be sand blasted to nothing over a short period of time?

[darth los]

wouldnt the climate were a zombie is at effect it? for example wouldnt a zed in death valley walking around in 120 degree temps have its brain fried from the heat or zeds in places on earth that get very very cold just freeze solid? what about those in jungles that would be wet 90% of the time, wouldnt that speed up the decaying process because jungles can eat flesh off people that are still alive. also if theyre in say the sahara desert wouldnt they be sand blasted to nothing over a short period of time?


I definitely think you're on to something there.

My only question would be: We all know that for reasons unknown ghouls decay at a far slower rate than a normal corpse would. I wonder if climate change would affect it all that much.






:cool:

[sandrock74]

I definitely think you're on to something there.

My only question would be: We all know that for reasons unknown ghouls decay at a far slower rate than a normal corpse would. I wonder if climate change would affect it all that much.


I don't know about climate (but I think it would indeed play a factor), but the elements would certainly play a factor in making zombies become less functional. Think about it, a zombie in a desert would be a dried out husk and sandblasted. Nothing would save it from sand and wind!
Same with winter/cold climates. If it's cold enough, they will freeze until they can't move anymore. Or, get buried deep enough in snow, to where they will remain trapped until it thaws.

[Ghost Of War]

Well, IMO, if a zombie was walking through death valley, it's not exactly going to die from lack of water. I would think the heat would speed up the decaying of it's flesh (or rather cooking of it), but it would just carry on. It wouldn't be affected by fatigue, heatstroke things like that. In freezing conditions, however, I'd think that they'd freeze solid eventually. agree with 04 about the jungle and the desert, but I think a zombie would eventually get out of the jungle/desert.

[BillyRay]

but I think a zombie would eventually get out of the jungle/desert.

Unless it falls into quicksand. :D

Also, wouldn't prolonged exposure to desert conditions cause the zed to mummify? I mean as opposed to decomposing faster.

[krakenslayer]

Well, IMO, if a zombie was walking through death valley, it's not exactly going to die from lack of water. I would think the heat would speed up the decaying of it's flesh (or rather cooking of it), but it would just carry on. It wouldn't be affected by fatigue, heatstroke things like that. In freezing conditions, however, I'd think that they'd freeze solid eventually. agree with 04 about the jungle and the desert, but I think a zombie would eventually get out of the jungle/desert.

I think it probably would, you know. Their chemistry is obviously different to us, but they're made of basically the same stuff and clearly their bodies are still controlled by the brain via nervous impulses. The zombie's cells (not just the skin and fat, but muscle, nerve and eventually even brain tissue) would slowly dry out and become unusable.

[EvilNed]

In marshes and swamps they'd probably decompose fairly quickly, given the large amount of insects and bacteria that feed on flesh.

[SRP76]

I doubt there'd be any effect.

#1. They get up and walk. Well, that right there tells you they'e immune to normal logic.

#2. They can tell the difference between a live person and another walking corpse, even if they're visually identical. That tells you they're immune to normal logic.

#3. see #1 and #2.

[Slain]

Yeah, but unless you're Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild you probably wouldn't outlast the zombies infesting settled areas by hiding out in some desolate wilderness with only the limited amount of supplies you can carry with you. While the undead may rot or freeze solid, the living are subject to diseases like malaria, scurvy, and need to food and water to survive. While built up area have supplies, they would also shelter the undead, and protect them to some degree from the elements. I wouldn't count on any area with structures NOT being zombie free--no matter how many years elapse after a zombie outbreak.

[Ghost Of War]

In marshes and swamps they'd probably decompose fairly quickly, given the large amount of insects and bacteria that feed on flesh.

Live flesh, or dead zombie flesh?

[EvilNed]

live flesh, or dead zombie flesh?

hooman fleeeesh!!!

[04]

something else to consider with the elements is what about different predators out there. since they are dead wouldnt buzzards eat on some of them or aligators, bears, maybe wolves, or dogs or even wild hogs. also with them just wondering around they would prolly come into contact with animals that have babies and will protect them at all cost because the animals dont know theyre dead. animal attacks on them prolly wont kill them but it would prolly break some bones and make it hard to attack the living

[sandrock74]

The thought of buzzards and the like has never been addressed in the movies, I always assumed due to lack of budget and/or interest. I can't believe that zombies would be totally immune to scavengers and even insects.

A grouping of zombies would be a ringing dinner bell for scavengers! I can just imagine a zombie being dragged off by jackals, or a literal swarm of flies buzzing over a maggot infested zombie horde. I don't believe for a minute that scavengers would be afraid of zombies, or be particularly disturbed by their prey moving, if they have the proper scent of death and decay on them.

In a manner of speaking, a zombie would have it's own predators to be wary of...but they aren't smart enough to realize or even care about it.

[MikePizzoff]

I'm pretty sure we've discussed this on here before.

I just thought of something... since zombies already have animal-like instincts, perhaps they'd act as geese and migrate during climate changes?

[04]

they might migrate but i thought flocked to something important to them like the mall in dawn 78, but they could anything's possible. wouldnt alot of zombies be taken out by natural disasters like floods, tornados, and wildfires?

[Wyldwraith]

Not so sure about truly "natural" disasters,
BUT, when the remnants of the military go all scorched earth on the hordes, metric tons of them would be destroyed in the infernos of cities burning unchecked after being ignited by thermobaric bombs and the like. Hell, even reactors melting down, or the 10,000 high-hazard dams built above major cities and floodplains now occupied by huge swathes of suburbia would take them out. When a 50 foot high wall of mud, debris the size of cars being carried along like they were toys and water hits you, it doesn't matter if you're already dead. Either A) The force of the water/debris slamming into the zombies will shatter every bone in their bodies, rendering them still-active, but 90% non-functional slabs of shredded flesh and shattered bone infecting the water supply for huge geographical regions, or B) the flood/mudslide traps the more undamaged "surviving"/structurally intact ghouls beneath/between immovable masses of debris in natural depressions that act as catchnets for the larger debris-masses as the water rushes past.

The collapse of the infrastructure supporting civilization from the absence of human maintenance efforts will do more damage in the end to the zombie hordes than anything but massive hurricanes, lambars and maybe the odd volcanic eruption.

Of course, whose to say what effect the radiation proliferating by wind and water from melted-down nuclear reactors would have on whatever factor is animating the dead, ditto fallout from surgical nuke strikes on large zombie concentrations. Any discussion of undead decay via any factor inevitably breaks down into asking the basic question. What's making them move around post-death and eat live people? Know that, and you can make some educated guesses on what effect scavengers and enhanced decomposition factors like insects, microbes and hostile environments might have.

I mean, if its as simple as some weird virus jump-starting basic nervous system functions, that could imply all but the hard-core scavengers with adaptations allowing them to consume the most rotted, pathogen and parasite-infested carrion without harm would leave them alone.

As to natural predators. Look at how many of them really don't seem to like chewing on people once we roll over and die from their attack? Bears kill bunches of people, but only during VERY lean years does even partial consumption of more than a few incidental mouthfuls occur. We're just not that calorie-rich, especially once we get REALLY decomposed. Hyenas, buzzards, flies and crocodilians would all probably be able to happily munch of zombies if a virus is behind them. If they're radioactive in origin, that pretty much rules out bacteria and SOME viruses (plus viruses dont have much to do with rot), and depending on the nature of and intensity of the radiation, might rapidly kill off populations of potential scavengers. Cadavers hot with high rad-counts of beta or gamma radiation would definitely be lethal to many scavengers.

[hadrian0117]

In marshes and swamps they'd probably decompose fairly quickly, given the large amount of insects and bacteria that feed on flesh.

Romero never addressed this, but Max Brooks did in the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. All scavangers from bacteria to buzzards avoid z-flesh; this also explains where they decompose so slowly.

[EvilNed]

Romero never addressed this, but Max Brooks did in the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. All scavangers from bacteria to buzzards avoid z-flesh; this also explains where they decompose so slowly.

Right, but I don't really "buy" that theory. I think it's sort of a cop-out.