What happens to all the meat a zombie eats?

[SignorVampa]

Been talking about zombies with some folks and we've got it down to two theories. Open for more of course but the two are as follows:

When a zombie chews up a person and swallows whatever it is they get their hands on, it doesn't go very far and starts to pile up in the esophagus until nothing more can be chewed and eventually pushes out whatever is trying to be swallowed.

My personal favorite theory is that a zombie will swallow and it will sit in the stomach. I dunno if stomach acid would continue to be produced post death, but if a zombie is gorging on a fresh corpse, I see it as a build up, a pile up in the guts, until the stomach distends. Maybe the stomach wall becoming messed up, organs jutting out of place.

Anyone with knowledge of A&P got any ideas?

[djblocker88]

Been talking about zombies with some folks and we've got it down to two theories. Open for more of course but the two are as follows:

When a zombie chews up a person and swallows whatever it is they get their hands on, it doesn't go very far and starts to pile up in the esophagus until nothing more can be chewed and eventually pushes out whatever is trying to be swallowed.

My personal favorite theory is that a zombie will swallow and it will sit in the stomach. I dunno if stomach acid would continue to be produced post death, but if a zombie is gorging on a fresh corpse, I see it as a build up, a pile up in the guts, until the stomach distends. Maybe the stomach wall becoming messed up, organs jutting out of place.

Anyone with knowledge of A&P got any ideas?

It was either the zombie survival guide or world war z. The book mentioned the meat would just sit in their stomachs until their intestines ruptured. Probably wouldn't smell too good... At least zombie shit would be another warning one is near by.

Most interesting part though was talk of Quislings. How they would actually get stronger from the people they ate and killed.

[SignorVampa]

I kinda remember that part, been a few years since I read WWZ.

So the forcing of food down the throat just gets it to sit there, but how far would it continue to go? I know it's gotta be broken down to some degree before it gets to the intestines, right?

[djblocker88]

I kinda remember that part, been a few years since I read WWZ.

So the forcing of food down the throat just gets it to sit there, but how far would it continue to go? I know it's gotta be broken down to some degree before it gets to the intestines, right?

It would probably get shoved right into the intestines... Picture Chile in a tube getting squeezed down.

[pascalywood]

I remember reading something about the meat just being pushed down in the digestive track, sometimes coming out of zombies anus undigested.

[VinnieD]

My thought is maybe zombies don't swallow. They chew, tear, gnash and whatnot, but they're incapable of digestive functions including swallowing. Their instinct isn't so much to feed as it is to kill.

[LowKey]

Option 1- It gets to the gut and rots. How quickly this takes place is anyone's guess, but if you're talking about virally re-animated dead (as opposed to virally altered living such as 28 Days later type) perhaps the virus speeds the rotting of the swallowed flesh.
Depending on your little slice of horror-fantasy, maybe this is the reason for the urge to eat human flesh.....the virus only consumes the flesh of the species it has infected, and the contents of the Z's guts offer the virus a supply of said flesh that prevents it from consuming the body of the Z itself.
Option 2- It fills the gut until the pressure caused by build up forces it out undigested through the digestive tract, and in cases where it cannot (too much volume consumed to pass quickly enough without gut muscular action, blockage, ect) it ruptures the digestive tract spilling into the abdominal cavity (fat drooping bellied Z) and rots there until the abdominal wall ruptures under pressure and the consumed flesh just falls out the opening.
Option 3- Whatever is reanimating the corpse and causing it to have motor function of the musculature (walking, chewing, ect) is also causing function of other muscles and organs within the body in a parody of the life process.....the muscles in the gut that move food through a living digestive tract are also functioning, and the consumed flesh goes through as it would in the living (at the same rate or slower, your call). Added choice is if this process is a close enough parody of the life process to provide any actual subsistence to the Z, or just mimicry of the digestive process with no benefit to the Z.


Enjoy, and give me a shout if you use this to write something interesting.

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Option 4: The virus causes a mutation in the normal GI tract bacteria, turning it into a flesh-eating bacteria that leaves onto a liquid byproduct. That byproduct would likely build until it activated the latent gag reflex, causing a spewing of virus infected liquid at high pressure. This gag reflex could be triggered early by a high-stress situation, such as pursuit of prey or the appearance of a threat. Bam, spitter zombies, because anything less is too easy. I would wager that some of the bacteria would remain active on the surface for at least a day or two.

I personally like the less-dead zombies, but feel free to use Option Four, either solo or in combination with other zeds.

[Lord Lav]

I think zombies keep eating until their stomach bursts open. Their digestive system wouldn't work

[orimar]

My thought is maybe zombies don't swallow. They chew, tear, gnash and whatnot, but they're incapable of digestive functions including swallowing. Their instinct isn't so much to feed as it is to kill.

i second that.

everytime i think of zombies and them getting to me, all they want to do is kill me or turn me into them.

i wonder if their thought is simply " what is that thing? i dont know. turn them into a zombie by biting them".

i dont think they actually chew and eat.

everytime i see stories of zombies in the movies or what not i always see them gang up on somoene and then they turn and them move on. i have even see where they hover over the bitten person who is turning and just watch them turn. then the bitten person gets up as a zombie and they turn and start again to the next non zombie.

[Neddog]

My thought is maybe zombies don't swallow. They chew, tear, gnash and whatnot, but they're incapable of digestive functions including swallowing. Their instinct isn't so much to feed as it is to kill.

i second that.

everytime i think of zombies and them getting to me, all they want to do is kill me or turn me into them.

i wonder if their thought is simply " what is that thing? i dont know. turn them into a zombie by biting them".

i dont think they actually chew and eat.

everytime i see stories of zombies in the movies or what not i always see them gang up on somoene and then they turn and them move on. i have even see where they hover over the bitten person who is turning and just watch them turn. then the bitten person gets up as a zombie and they turn and start again to the next non zombie.

I third that thought.

[fred.greek]

Run a web search for zombie & fungus. IMO it makes a LOT more… sense… than a bacteria, virus, radiation, etc. Fungus can “eat” a lot of things. Fungus can act in symbiosis with other entities (for now, plants) and send nutrients that the plant could not gain on its own. Might it not serve a zombie as an alternative nervous system, nutrient delivery system, etc., and while continuously stimulating the primitive brain. The zombie body does not need to digest the eaten meat, the fungus does it…

http://carrie-health-healing.blogspot.c ... brain.html

In the Primitive brain, we are on auto-pilot. Things become mindless: mindless eating to comfort ourselves when we’re depressed; mindless angry outbursts when the toothpaste has run out; mindless nail-biting before public speaking. The Primitive brain focuses on what we don’t want.

[rednekrampager]

I think zombies keep eating until their stomach bursts open. Their digestive system wouldn't work

Nah.. Gravity being the bitch she is would make them drop a few zombie terds.

[Merovech]

It falls out the bottom.

[Sins]

So let me get this straight...
Zombies have the ability to see, smell, hear.
They have basic brain functioning.
They have a working muscular system hence the "walking" dead.
All very complicated, especially the five senses part.
But it is impossible something as simple as their digestive system works?

My theory is they got a biological system similar to the living until somebody blows a three inch whole in their belly with a shotgun.
Then every other system of their body BESIDES the digestive system works.
But what does it matter if it doesnt work. At that point, the human flesh just escapes through that handy three inch hole in their stomach.

[Pooter]

It gets utilized in their metabolic functions,
where else are they getting energy to move around from?

Even a virus will die if it's energy sources are not met.

They are not totally dead, just fucked up in the head.

Zombies can't be dead, maybe what defines them as human is dead.
But what gives Zombies, energy to move around, to make noise, to move their eyes?
There must be some form of energy that is being used, even a virus will die
if it cannot feed.

I know that MSG and HFCS make people want to eat more,
that's why American restaurants put it in food and soft drinks,
for capitalist gains. Maybe the same issue is happening with
Zeds, they have an insatiable thirst to feed.

I believe that Zombies would have become more Animal-like,
I've noticed that animals have a higher tolerance for pain,
which is why they can go twice as far, and fight better
than we can.

It seems that the less intelligent (as compared to humans)
the more incredible the strength they would have.

A Gorilla and a Retard both have the ability to rip a man in two.
We call it Retard strength.

[UkPrepper]

I think it would just sit there rotting away in what is left of the acid slowly pushing it's way down the digestive tract (possibly due to pressure, gravity etc) untill it either spills out or causes a rupture somewhere along the way.

I would have thought that the rotting fecal matter and all the other not so nice things in the human body that the gas that could not excape would cause areas of the body to pop?