Why do Zombies smell like shit?

[LiamKerrington]

Hi.

Topic says it all: Why do Zombies, especially the ones in WA, smell like shit?

Thoughts? Opinions?

All the best!
Liam

[yarri]

Pheromones, or musk glands. I have it on good authority deer musk smells of strong urine. It would stand to reason that as Zeds /biters or what ever we are calling them act a great deal like pack animals and the "shit" smell could smell could be a "musk"

[LiamKerrington]

Hi.

Interesting thought. So you theorize that Zombie-ism adds some extra-punch to certain pheromon-production or eventually adding specific glands?

I thought something along the line that certain functions of the automatic nervous system would simply break down - like, you know, with the disfunctioning of pain-receptors. What, if simply those body-functions simply don't work anymore to hold back ... the end-product of metabolism, like pee and poo! That would be an explanation for it ...

And as silly as this might sound, it really keeps me busy, because every now and then the different characters in WA speak of Zeds smelling like shit ...

All the best!
Liam

[yarri]

It could very well be pee and poo. Zeds like animals do not use the toilet nor are overly concerned with hygiene. I do not think its a breakdown of the digestive system as food processed by teeth and saliva (spit is part of the metabolic system ) contains enzymes to to start the process of digestion. If the gut does not function we would have zombies exploding all over the place as rotting food in a warm in closed space equals fermentation and that leads to a build up of gas .... You see where I'm going with this?

[LiamKerrington]

Mh, yeah. I think. Thank you, I didn't think of the whole picture. So I liek what you are saying there.
Probably it is just this "hygiene" think and maybe a zombie-related over-production of certain pheromons ...

[Robzombie]

Also, maybe the "smells like shit" comments aren't meant to be taken literally. We say all kinds of things smell/taste/look like shit when it's just a simile/metaphor(?...I forget, grammer school was so long ago) for smelling/tasting/looking bad or distasteful in general. I take it that their specific smell is just a result of flesh rot & loss of hygiene including pooping in their pants.

[Witch_Doctor]

I was reading a Z-book called Infection where the Zs smell like poop because they just walk and crap. It's due to the lack of Z-Hygiene as mentioned above. I also wondered about the lack of a functioning digestive system leading to exploding Zs.

Makes you think.....
Blocked and Bloated :D

[LiamKerrington]

I was reading a Z-book called Infection where the Zs smell like poop because they just walk and crap. It's due to the lack of Z-Hygiene as mentioned above. I also wondered about the lack of a functioning digestive system leading to exploding Zs.

Makes you think.....
Blocked and Bloated :D
Infection written by Sean Schubert?
Or The Infection by Craig DiLouie?
Or maybe one of the few Kindle-book-editions titled with "Infection", but written by various authors like G.W. Ellis, or Mark Cooper?
Or do you speak of a translation of "Infektion" written by Ben Tripp und Bernhard Kempen?

Man, I didn't know it was possible to publish different novels under the (nearly) same title ...

All the best!
Liam

[Witch_Doctor]

Infection written by Sean Schubert?
Or The Infection by Craig DiLouie?
Or maybe one of the few Kindle-book-editions titled with "Infection", but written by various authors like G.W. Ellis, or Mark Cooper?
Or do you speak of a translation of "Infektion" written by Ben Tripp und Bernhard Kempen?

Man, I didn't know it was possible to publish different novels under the (nearly) same title ...

All the best!
Liam

The Infection by Craig DiLouie

Sorry, was too lazy to search for the author's name when I posted. I knew this would happen too. So many works with that name. I guess you can say it is an Infectious title. :cool:

[DannyBox]

The fact that they are much likely dead explains it all, the corps rotten and the old blood and the sweet all that mix together give a great odor in their body, is incredible they don't smell their own stink but the sweet of humans they can miles away. :squint:

[Robzombie]

is incredible they don't smell their own stink but the sweet of humans they can miles away. :squint:
haha, I can beleive it. I've come across many people that must have no idea how bad they stink...

[LiamKerrington]

Hi there,

well. Think of it more like this: Fresh, and well-natured odors and pheromons of humans push the incredibly unearthly odor of the zombies' into kind of a disbalance; therefore they are able to actually recognize a change in the local odor-climate ...

Robzombie: +1

All the best!
Liam

[USMC-CPL-Zombiekiller]

Im pushing more towards the pheromones possibility. Forgive me for not being able to point out the Chapter. It's when Micheal, Saul, Pegs and Angel do the sweat test. Riley reviews the tape of the test and points out how the Zed was drooling. As if marking with its own scent.

If they can distinguish between the pheromones of humans, which is excreted in sweat then I'm sure the now Zedified human will excrete pheromones as well. Hygiene and proper body care keeps our smell from ever reaching that level. The adding of the Z-Germ/Virus/Whatever to the body could cause the natural human glands to create a much more potent odor.

[LiamKerrington]

Im pushing more towards the pheromones possibility. Forgive me for not being able to point out the Chapter. It's when Micheal, Saul, Pegs and Angel do the sweat test. Riley reviews the tape of the test and points out how the Zed was drooling. As if marking with its own scent.

If they can distinguish between the pheromones of humans, which is excreted in sweat then I'm sure the now Zedified human wcill excrete pheromones as well. Hygiene and proper body care keeps our smell from ever reaching that level. The adding of the Z-Germ/Virus/Whatever could of the natural human glands to create a much more potent odor.

Good point. Very good point. Thank you.
Yes, it was very early in the WA-show, in Chapter #7.

All the best!
Liam

[paranoyd]

Deer scent has a distinct smell;very strong however not like feces or urine. Zombies smell like "shit" because they are rotting fleshbags that eat all the nasty stuff that comprises a human body. Anyone who has smelled a dead human (not an animal on the side of the road) could relate. The smell or pheromone concept is obviously a component but I think that the zombies recognize their smell as "friend" and people just smell like an awesome cheeseburger.

[Duffusmonkey]

I think the zombies are not dead. CJ cut thier legs off so they would bleed out. A traditional zombie doesn't even need blood. They reason they smell like crap is because their pants are full of crap.
I think Skittles survived the tower attack because I believe he shit himself when he realized he let the zombies in.

I think ground zero leaked a combination of cancerous genetic crap. Cancer causes cells to reproduce rapidly, when combined with some sort of genetic mutigen it cause the zombies to "evolve" or re-activate dormant genes. Maybe the underwater zombies lungs can function like a gill, similar to some catfish.

I think INK is exposing live humans maybe even children (not turned zombies) to concentrated does of this cancerous genetic crap with mixed results.

[LiamKerrington]

I think the zombies are not dead. CJ cut thier legs off so they would bleed out. A traditional zombie doesn't even need blood. They reason they smell like crap is because their pants are full of crap.

I think Zeds are not dead either. Does bleeding out require someone to live? Probably it would go faster with your heart pumping; but even without pumping a wound at a very low position should make the blood spread out as well, shouldn't it? I am not in the butcher-trade ... Please correct me on this, if I am wrong 'bout it.
Crap and trousers ... Yep. Probably one of the many factors ... Crap in pants, drooling, not to forget eating rotten flesh, living in a place with piled up bodies, lack of hygiene, maybe even mutated pheromons ...


I think Skittles survived the tower attack because I believe he shit himself when he realized he let the zombies in.

Maybe. Maybe not ...


I think ground zero leaked a combination of cancerous genetic crap. Cancer causes cells to reproduce rapidly, when combined with some sort of genetic mutigen it cause the zombies to "evolve" or re-activate dormant genes. Maybe the underwater zombies lungs can function like a gill, similar to some catfish.

No so sure about ground zero. I guess something started the Zeds over there. But in the meantime ground zero is void of any life considering what Saul and Victor found there ...
About Zeds in the water: What, if Zeds still live, and yet they don't need oxygen - at least not as much as a normal human being?


I think INK is exposing live humans maybe even children (not turned zombies) to concentrated does of this cancerous genetic crap with mixed results.

About Ink ... Since he is a maniac gone Zombie I assume that he evolves on his own. I am not so sure if he has anything to do with the different other Zeds - except for ruling over them. If there are any experiments, I guess there is someone else behind it.
But I need to admit that I am not so sure about this statement, because the big little-ones have tattooed numbers on their fore-arms ... And who if not Ink would do something like that?

All the best!
Liam