How long could a Zombie outbreak last?

[WILLIE]

They are dead and rotting right? At some point wouldn't they just become bones, thus immobile? I'll bet if you stumbled into a "hot" zombie area, you could smell them coming.

[Murph]

I don't think they're rotting like humans normally rot. I'd call it more of a decay. But yeah, I bet you could smell them coming, even if it was just simply do to the completely unsantitary conditions of their existance.

Zombies feed for a reason I figure, something in them is "living" and needs nurishment.

So to answer the question... How long would it take for all zombies to killed off by the survivors, or for all the zombies to canablize each other and the rest to starve? What, maybe 5 years? How long would it take a lone zombie to starve? Or can they even starve?

[gelgoog]

well if its a biological metamorphisis , then I wouldnt discount them dying as normal humans do. For all we know they are omnivores just like us. Maybe their digestive track is much less sensitive so they can eat things like plant roughage or get nutrients from soil or something. Maybe they just so desire the taste of human flesh that when given the opportunity to have some it drives them crazy( like crack addicts) but they will still seek out other forms of nutrients when humans arent around. Perhaps zombies turn green and get nutrients via photosynthisis and humans meat.

In any event if nature has allowed the existence of zombies in the first place, I wouldnt count on them dying off anytime soon.

[Dranj]

From what I've seen, it seems general consensus is zombies don't feel pain. If that's the case, then we're basically dealing with a large outbreak of extremely scary lepers.
Let me explain that. The reason lepers lose body parts is a consequence of the disease, not a direct effect. Leprosy causes you to lose the sensation of pain, at least partially, so the loss of body parts is due to the constant wear and tear that occurs when you can't feel pain. Ever smack your toe on the table walking across a room? Imagine if you couldn't feel that and just went on. Without the pain registration, you wouldn't avoid stubbing your toe in the future.
So I believe that yes, eventually the zombies would fall right apart, just from the wear and tear of daily life lived with reckless abandon. But first, I think it would takes years for the zombies to become so far gone that they are literally falling apart. Second, how much do they need to survive? If you think of the Dawn of the Dead teeth gnashing head in a cooler then that's possibly even more troublesome. But if the majority of the body must remain intact, the organs especially, the zombies would eventually die off from falling apart.

[Cranium]

Could be decades. Zombies' being infected with whatever causes them to reanimate, may become immune to decomposition. They could simply slowly dry out but remain mobile.

Picture pissed off beef jerky that wants to eat you.

[GunnBorn]

It could last long enough to wipe out every human on the face of the earth if not handled properly. Thank God for forums like this at least some of us will know what to do.

[DJOokami]

hmmm...I guess it all depends on what kind of zombies they are. Are these actually dead zombies? Or are they 28 Days Later-ish "zombies" that are still alive? I would bet that they're the latter and that they don't feed on humans/animals exclusively but eat scavenged food to satisfy their need to feed. If so...hell, we could be looking at a potentially indefinite rager plague- that is, assuming that they wouldn't kill each other in the act of mating. Then, not only would we have a zombie population around for years if not decades or centuries, we'd be looking at an exponentially increasing rager population. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. But, look at the bright side. If that were to happen, they would be much easier to kill and I guess global warming wouldn't be such a big deal. Who's with me?

Anyone?
Whitney

[Brangdon]

Zombies feed for a reason I figure, something in them is "living" and needs nurishment.

I figure they'll be like certain reptiles, what we call cold-blooded. They are able to bank down their metabolism and then last for a long time without food. I've heard of crocodiles or big snakes surviving on one meal a year.

They want meat, so maybe half of them will eat the other half once a year on average. If you start with 50 million (in the UK), after 10 years 50,000 would be left.

[Fetus Smasher]

I think in order to really mete out some productive conjectures here, we should really decide what kind of zeds we are dealing with.

That or have everyone give an opinion about both Undead Rot bodies and Ragers.

Then at least this thread will not be so "all over the place". This seems to be the problem with most topics I read on this forum. Some one will take one step forward with an opinion/idea and then the next 15 people will bring up so many different "what ifs" and "depends on what kind of zed" etc.

So I don't know, Opinions?

[bonanacrom]

Welcome, to the new all over the place boards. Watch day of the dead. It wont take long for them to take out many of us.

[Camera_Guy]

What about the Land of the Dead zeds? They learned how to use crap and work together. But then if we went to say a feudal times mind set(castles knights and stuff like that) we could prolly have a chance. just as long as no one breaks the defenses and every person living in the castle has a job to keep it going. Or if they are ragers then i say we are fucked up the dick (even more painful) no matter what we do.

[flylow]

Perhaps zombies turn green and get nutrients via photosynthisis and humans meat.

Venus Fly Zombies For The Win!

-phil

[Camera_Guy]

Perhaps zombies turn green and get nutrients via photosynthisis and humans meat.

Venus Fly Zombies For The Win!

-phil

i'd say that's a fail...major fail. unless they are stationary liek the actual plant then that might not be so bad.

[bigredski]

We all have a shelf life, so the zombies would too. If there is one thing we've learned, it's that they would quickly take out a majority of the population. Yes, there would be survivors, and yes, we could possibly wipe them all out. But the good news is that they don't have the ability to drive so you could get that fully loaded Range Rover you have always wanted.

[Camera_Guy]

good point

[flylow]

i'd say that's a fail...major fail. unless they are stationary liek the actual plant then that might not be so bad.

C'mon let's make it challenging! At least it would make it interesting to figure out what was going on.

[Camera_Guy]

idk man if zeds came at me with the gigantic maws i'd prolly shit my pants and die right there.

[flylow]

idk man if zeds came at me with the gigantic maws i'd prolly shit my pants and die right there.

True, me, too.

[DieFoxDie]

3 days-2 months

[Camera_Guy]

3 days-2 months

How do you figure it'll be that long?

[Superstar]

Welcome, to the new all over the place boards. Watch day of the dead. It wont take long for them to take out many of us.

Yes, but if the zombie outbreak were to happen in the U.S, we already have people prepared for it, a.k.a half the people on the forums. Plus with the many countries around us there would be many military forces that would help or stop the infection.

Eventually with if the infection gets too serious, we might as well just be bombed for the heck of it.

I'd say 4-6months?

[ChristopherB]

As stated in Zombie Survival guide, They can becom frozen...only to melt several years later to restart the whole process, thoretically it could never be over! Taking what was written in Day by Day Armaggedon, the use of nuclear weapons, and specifically the radioactive fallout cuold preserve zombies, and actually increase mobility, and allow the zombie to revert to primitive brain function.

[Jonathan]

There are too many unknown factors.

I have little doubt that environmental factors would degrade a zombie's physical body. Assuming nothing actively destroys one, exposure to the elements if nothing else would gradually wear the body down to a point where functionality is lost. I'm not as knowledgeable about erosion and such as I could be, but I'd imagine it takes a really, really long time.

"Rotting" might or might not work. If something in the zombie makes it toxic, that might apply to bacterial agents as well. Micro-organisms might not be capable of breaking down the zombie. Then again, they might. I could see it going either way, zombies break the rules in a lot of ways.

I would personally assume that zombies can work indefinitely. Assuming the worst typically doesn't give you much room for disappointment. I am a firm believer that dismemberment and total incineration is the only sure bet.

[Gengar]

A Zombie outbreak would last indefinitly. Most of them would die off and the rest would be like any meat eating animal. There population would rise and fall with there food source. We just become one step down on the food chain.