Does one have to die to become zombie or will a bite do it

[wolram]

I am confused, does one have to die to become zombie or will a bite do it, in the films it seems they just chew on a to be zombie, this way seems so waste full, and the food chain would break down very quickly.

 

[arildno]

That's why they are like the Ebola virus:

Too contagious for their own good.

Vampires, on the other hand..

 

[Sorry!]

I am confused, does one have to die to become zombie or will a bite do it, in the films it seems they just chew on a to be zombie, this way seems so waste full, and the food chain would break down very quickly.

I think you mean in Resident Evil because most other zombie movies actually have DEAD people rising not people infected with a diseases.
But yeah in resident evil just getting infected will cause you to die and then be reanimated. I don't think the zombies in resident evil need to eat though... they just raged to kill. So it wouldn't matter if they are being wastefull they won't die from starvation anyways. (their already dead...)

 

[wolram]

I think you mean in Resident Evil because most other zombie movies actually have DEAD people rising not people infected with a diseases.
But yeah in resident evil just getting infected will cause you to die and then be reanimated. I don't think the zombies in resident evil need to eat though... they just raged to kill. So it wouldn't matter if they are being wastefull they won't die from starvation anyways. (their already dead...)

So how long will an un fed zombie live?

 

[Sorry!]

So how long will an un fed zombie live?

foooreverrrr... I don't think they are living though... lol

 

[wolram]

What happens to all the babies? do the adult zombies leave them alone, as you do not see zombie babies on film.

 

[Office_Shredder]

They're kept in incubation pens so when they grow up they can be infected. Baby zombies don't grow anymore, so are fairly useless as far as advancing the species goes

 

[arildno]

So how long will an un fed zombie live?

I think zombies fall apart if they don't eat. A foot here, an arm there, an eyeball the next day perhaps.

So, I think the really crucial parameter to determine here is the Z(ombie)-N(Atural)-A(verage)-D(ecomposition)-rate, i.e the ZNADR, for short.

ZNADR measures kilograms of biomass lost/time, i.e, with SI-units kg/s.

I believe there was an article in Nature (or was it Fortean Times?) back in the 80s stating that the ZNADR is approx 1.23kg/day for a male, somewhat less for the female. But, I might be wrong on that..

 

[Sorry!]

I think zombies fall apart if they don't eat. A foot here, an arm there, an eyeball the next day perhaps.

So, I think the really crucial parameter to determine here is the Z(ombie)-A(verage)-D(ecomposition)-rate, i.e the ZADR, for short.

ZADR measures kilograms of biomass/time, i.e, with SI-units kg/s.

I believe there was an article in Nature (or was it Fortean Times?) back in the 80s stating that the ZADR is approx 1.23kg/day for a male, somewhat less for the female.

lol there was a book about surviving zombies that talked about all of this stuff. Its a good read actually you guys should look for it. I'll go find the name

 

[G01]

I think zombies fall apart if they don't eat. A foot here, an arm there, an eyeball the next day perhaps.

So, I think the really crucial parameter to determine here is the Z(ombie)-N(Atural)-A(verage)-D(ecomposition)-rate, i.e the ZNADR, for short.

ZNADR measures kilograms of biomass lost/time, i.e, with SI-units kg/s.

I believe there was an article in Nature (or was it Fortean Times?) back in the 80s stating that the ZNADR is approx 1.23kg/day for a male, somewhat less for the female. But, I might be wrong on that..

Another great example of quality science being discussed on PF!

Not only is it theoretically intriguing but there are biomedical applications to this research as well!

 

[wolram]

Just to be clear what is the difference between a reanimated mummy and a zombie.

 

[arildno]

Mummies are brittle, zombies are squishy.

Whereas zombies decompose, mummies reduce into dust.

 

[dlgoff]

Another great example of quality science being discussed on PF!

Not only is it theoretically intriguing but there are biomedical applications to this research as well!

References. peer-reviewed please.

 

[lurflurf]

What happens to all the babies? do the adult zombies leave them alone, as you do not see zombie babies on film.

Watch Peter Jackson's Brain Dead aka Dead Alive, best zombie baby scene ever.

 

[vibjwb]

In the movie Night Of The Living Dead: The zombies were dead people that came back from their graves. The reason they got out of their graves was because some sort of radiation caused it. I forgot where the radiation came from but in those days people were very worried about nuclear testing in the atmosphere.

 

[arildno]

I forgot where the radiation came from but in those days people were very worried about nuclear testing in the atmosphere.

No, we were not.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Just to be clear what is the difference between a reanimated mummy and a zombie.

A mummy is animated by a part of the soul of the deceased (either the ka or ba, I can not remember) which is protecting the relics or property of the deceased. It is supposed to have some sort of consciousness and purpose.

Zombies are generally considered 'mindless' but there are different types. Originally zombies were created by witch doctors. Witch doctors generally either bring the soul of the deceased back to inhabit the body and bind it as their slave or give a living person some sort of potion that destroys their will and binds them to the will of the witch doctor. The later are generally not dead but may eventually look and smell like it as they no longer pay any attention to hygiene, do not think to avoid hurting themselves, and do not dress their wounds. This is actually what "real" zombies are supposed to be like.
Sci fi zombies are generally created through some sort of disease which destroys the higher function of the victims brain and turn out much like the "real" witch doctor zombies, so not necessarily dead. Some are the victims of an organism which infects and kills the body of its host and then some how takes control of the dead body as a vehicle to continue spreading itself. And there are apparently also zombies animated by radiation.

 

[Office_Shredder]

No, we were not.

Well, of course the zombies weren't, he was referring to the humans

 

[arildno]

A mummy is animated by a part of the soul of the deceased (either the ka or ba, I can not remember) which is protecting the relics or property of the deceased. It is supposed to have some sort of consciousness and purpose.

Zombies are generally considered 'mindless' but there are different types. Originally zombies were created by witch doctors. Witch doctors generally either bring the soul of the deceased back to inhabit the body and bind it as their slave or give a living person some sort of potion that destroys their will and binds them to the will of the witch doctor. The later are generally not dead but may eventually look and smell like it as they no longer pay any attention to hygiene, do not think to avoid hurting themselves, and do not dress their wounds. This is actually what "real" zombies are supposed to be like.
Sci fi zombies are generally created through some sort of disease which destroys the higher function of the victims brain and turn out much like the "real" witch doctor zombies, so not necessarily dead. Some are the victims of an organism which infects and kills the body of its host and then some how takes control of the dead body as a vehicle to continue spreading itself. And there are apparently also zombies animated by radiation.

What is really interesting is how the racist, Eurocentric view that only whites are good at science totally suppresses the fact that witch doctors in Mali have reduced the ZNADR to 0.34 kg/day for BOTH sexes!

This stunning scientific achievement was noted already in 1674, when the Jesuit priest Josa Garamanga commented upon it (he was later bitten by a lamia, and wasted away two years later)

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

This stunning scientific achievement was noted already in 1674, when the Jesuit priest Josa Garamanga commented upon it (he was later bitten by a lamia, and wasted away two years later)

Lamia take jesuits? She must have been bored.

 

[arildno]

Lamia take jesuits? She must have been bored.

She was a racist, and preferred white males. There were no one else around. Except zombies.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

She was a racist, and preferred white males. There were no one else around. Except zombies.

I might have mentioned it in the book review thread. One of my favourite authors (Tim Powers) wrote a book called The Stress of Her Regard about a man whom a Lamia decided to play with more or less because she was bored. She later turns out to have also enthralled Keats, Shelley, and Byron. Oh and that physician of Shelley and Byron's as well. Its a good book. No zombies though I don't think.

 

[arildno]

I might have mentioned it in the book review thread. One of my favourite authors (Tim Powers) wrote a book called The Stress of Her Regard about a man whom a Lamia decided to play with more or less because she was bored. She later turns out to have also enthralled Keats, Shelley, and Byron. Oh and that physician of Shelley and Byron's as well. Its a good book. No zombies though I don't think.

Dear me. Shows how unliterate I am not to pick up that allusion..

 

[Borek]

That's the first time I heard you don't have to die to become a zombie. You die first, you are zombie later.

To become vampire it is enough to be biten, or get infected.

I must admit I was a vampire, but not a zombie, so my experience is somehow limited.

 

[Pattonias]

That's the first time I heard you don't have to die to become a zombie. You die first, you are zombie later.

To become vampire it is enough to be biten, or get infected.

I must admit I was a vampire, but not a zombie, so my experience is somehow limited.

I think in the attempt to make the thought of becoming a zombie more scary Hollywood has started to favor the idea of a zombie being the result of a virus that can animate the dead and take over the living. Its more exciting.

 

[arildno]

How is a ghoul created, by the way?

Ghouls have not been studied enough, I think..

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

How is a ghoul created, by the way?

Ghouls have not been studied enough, I think..

There is at least one source that says ghouls are the servants of vampires and that vampires create them by feeding humans their blood and making them their slaves. Having vampiric blood in them makes them sensitive to light and they tend to become pale and deathly looking.

 

[Borek]

Algol is a ghoul.