Zombies and water.

by **SaikoPureya** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:29 pm

Zombies are living organisms with dead flesh. It has been established that a zombie could live approx 3 years underwater before completely dissolved. This also means however that zombies would rot away after a period of time. 10 years 20 years maybe. If you could find a nice place to hide out for a while you should be good in about 10 - 20 years. There might still be a few left because of people getting infected later on. However if the human population would hide out somewhere we would eventually out number the zeds and overwhelm them.

by **SeaDog** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 3:04 pm

...but where's the fun in that?

by **CrunchDog** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 3:11 pm

If we hid out in say a place like Zion, from the Matrix Trilogy it could work, but the only sure way to get rid of walkers is to actually get rid of them rather than wait them out.

by **Malleolus** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:15 pm

SaikoPureya wrote:Zombies are living organisms with dead flesh. It has been established that a zombie could live approx 3 years underwater before completely dissolved. This also means however that zombies would rot away after a period of time. 10 years 20 years maybe. If you could find a nice place to hide out for a while you should be good in about 10 - 20 years. There might still be a few left because of people getting infected later on. However if the human population would hide out somewhere we would eventually out number the zeds and overwhelm them.

Is there a place that could support even 15% of the human population that was previously uninhabited so as to totally avoid infection already being present on this island? Then you have to organize this mass of people, maintain order, etc.

by **drifts14x** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 1:45 pm

Alright, assuming this was the type of zombie infection where animals didn't want to eat the flesh of the walking dead (and I'm talking little guys like chiggers, leeches, and other little guys), there would still be a host of bacteria that would be working to break down the soft tissue.

Take a piece of meat, leave it in the sun under cheesecloth to keep out the bugs, see what happens. I bet it takes a lot less than 10-20 years for it to dissolve.

Obviously, some zeds would be better preserved (see: snowy climates), but just the tug and twist of things in the ocean is enough to break them up. Think about how long a zombie would last if it fell into an area of high surf... probably not long.

All of this still neglects the fact that zombies hate water, so get on your boat, grab your .22 and get plinking!

by **RickOShea** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:02 pm

drifts14x wrote:Alright, assuming this was the type of zombie infection where animals didn't want to eat the flesh of the walking dead (and I'm talking little guys like chiggers, leeches, and other little guys), there would still be a host of bacteria that would be working to break down the soft tissue.

What if the cause of the zombiefication is something like the Solanum virus......which also kills the bacteria that would normally break-down a decaying corpse.

http://zombie.wikia.com/wiki/Solanum

by **greenbeetle** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:34 pm

Number one, I'm glad to see zombies hydrating for once. If they have to walk along the bottom of the ocean to do it that makes enough sense for me.

Number two, what's missing from movies and TV shows is clearly the flies, maggots, racoons and vultures that would pick most zombies down to skeletons within a few days. Unfortunately they would not fair much better underwater in this regards, being rambling shark fodder and all. Oh well, at least they would be hydrated.

In summation, zombies will fair much better underwater just like Jar-Jar Binx and the Gungans in Star Wars Attack of the Clones than they will topside so we should all stay out of the water when the time comes.

Thank you.

by **majorhavoc** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:55 pm

Zombies in salt water will spread the virus, infecting sealife world wide. Including Godzilla, leviathan of the deep, now slumbering peacefully in the Sea of Japan.

Do we really want that people? Breath-ray breathing, metropolis-smashing Godzilla is bad enough, do we have to add a Zombified Godzilla to the mix? It's like, seriously bad kharma to even be talking about zombies and water. :cry:

by **SeaDog** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:57 pm

Are we talking saltwater or fresh water? Also, are there any kind of fishing regulations for zombies? I'd hate to get caught with one that's too small. :twisted:

by **SeaDog** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:04 pm

...and what about a zombie shark? Sounds like a good idea for a Syfy channel movie. Big zombie great white with a tiny brain that's had to hit. Swimming around infecting other sea life (i.e. orca, other sharks, turtles) and all these zombie sea animals eating beach goers. Awesome. I'll start working on that now. :twisted:

by **RickOShea** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:08 pm

SeaDog wrote:Are we talking saltwater or fresh water? Also, are there any kind of fishing regulations for zombies? I'd hate to get caught with one that's too small.

No closed season, no limit, no size minimum. And you can use everything from a cane pole to a gill net..... in fresh, salt and brackish waters. Chumming and night lights are okay, too. :wink:

ETA: Even though they don't feel pain, catch-&-release is highly frowned upon.

by **Cherokee John** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:51 pm

In World War Z and the ocean walking zombies- I felt he really dropped the ball there. It was written by someone who has A: Never been diving B: Never been in salt water for more than 6 hours.

Try this experiment-get a surfboard/Boogie board or a life vest and some drinkable water. Sit in the ocean for 6 hours straight. Observe the water's affect on your skin and the sores that occur where your clothing meets your skin. You have skin that can be re-hydrated and it's still going to fall off you in salt water. Salt water (like zombies) basically eats you alive. A zombie would have no chance. Buoyancy? Forget it. It'd be easier for zombies to fly.

There are underwater currents, caverns, trenches and sea animals that would make walking on the bottom of the ocean as plausible as digging a hole to China. Ever seen a brick after its been in the ocean for a while? Forget it.

Fear the flying zombies! :gonk:

by **RickOShea** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:51 pm

Then again, the zombies in WWZ had the Solanum virus, which repels any critters that may try to feed off of the corpse, and also kills the bacteria that would cause the decay-gasses that would cause it to float.

And while the salt water would break-down the skin and fat layers within a couple of weeks, the zombie's musculature (and their ambulatory ability) may last for a while longer.

The saving grace would be that the soft tissues of the eyes, ears and nose would probably be quickly destroyed by the salt water, so that would negate the chance of them walking up on shore from the surf and then be able to detect and attack people.

by **KCB1986** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:52 pm

In the Zombie Survival Guide and in WWZ, zombies were left alone by all living organisms including rodents, insects and certain types of bacteria because the virus essentially scared off the wild life. One thing that was mentioned prominently in WWZ was that zombies were not afraid of water, they would roam the ocean floor attacking whatever they could reach, some times coming up to shore and attacking beach villages.

by **happlesstechnogeek** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:59 pm

Do we really want them zombiefying sea life. Is it an oxymoron to call a shark a flesh eating monster. Do we really want undead sperm whales or seals. This would be a massive blow to my foodchain to have to sort out zombie Tiger prawns from the good ones. How do you sort them anyway? And do you want to ever deal with a Zombie giant squid!

by **11C1P** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:27 pm

would zombies readily walk into the water, lets say freshwater especially? Wouldn't they poison the water supply of a pond, small lake, downstream of a creek, etc.?? Like that zombie that fell in the well on walking dead, they quit using that well, but I wondered if any of the water was good since often times wells quite far apart will be from the same source of underground water.

by **TN-Shooter** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:22 am

Malleolus wrote:Is there a place that could support even 15% of the human population that was previously uninhabited so as to totally avoid infection already being present on this island? Then you have to organize this mass of people, maintain order, etc.

The moon?

by **DaleGribble** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:30 am

Some funny shit in this thread

I always wondered about this prospect but for slightly different reasons. Many portray zombies as either afraid of water or unable to travel through it for whatever reason. Others still show zombies walking and living on the floor of the ocean. Now i always obviously hoped that zombies could not go through water, but I wondered where is the balance between zombies brain-weakness and resistance to any other injury. If a zombie is undead, but its brain is its weakness, would suffocation destroy its brain? Would a zombie underwater not be able to breath and therefore its brain be "destroyed" or otherwise shut down by lack of oxygen? Or does a zombie even breath? I guess its more of a question about why exactly a zombies brain is its weakness, but I always wondered. I think, obviously fast walking type zombies that arent brain-weak, just undead or "enraged" people, water would kill them.

by **Doctorr Fabulous** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:40 am

Keep the zeds outta the water, lest they awaken Cthulhu.

Sent via Neural Net Uplink

by **TN-Shooter** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:24 am

We don't need C and Zombies taking over the world... Humanity wouldn't have a chance.

by **11C1P** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:09 pm

DaleGribble wrote:Some funny shit in this thread

I always wondered about this prospect but for slightly different reasons. Many portray zombies as either afraid of water or unable to travel through it for whatever reason. Others still show zombies walking and living on the floor of the ocean. Now i always obviously hoped that zombies could not go through water, but I wondered where is the balance between zombies brain-weakness and resistance to any other injury. If a zombie is undead, but its brain is its weakness, would suffocation destroy its brain? Would a zombie underwater not be able to breath and therefore its brain be "destroyed" or otherwise shut down by lack of oxygen? Or does a zombie even breath? I guess its more of a question about why exactly a zombies brain is its weakness, but I always wondered. I think, obviously fast walking type zombies that arent brain-weak, just undead or "enraged" people, water would kill them.

I've wondered about the breathing too. They often make sounds, so obviously they take in air and are able to release it in wheezes, moans and grunts, but is that just something they are doing like walking, in that they do it, but don't need to breath to live. I would assume so since even people who died of strangulation will still turn to zombies. Same thing with eating, do they survive longer by eating, is there digestive system still working? In movies like 28 days later I would assume so, but in a more conventional zombie movie I am not so sure. Think about Walking Dead. Those zombies are always eating, but where does the food go? You don't see trails of zombie crap coming out of their pant legs as they walk along. Someone needs to find this stuff out.