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 Frazzled wrote:
Would fire ants eat zombies? Seriously, if they don't really move when in docile mode and don't respond to pain, if so I have a very simple solution...

You'd think they'd be infested with maggots as well, but I suppose something about the zombification makes them repel insects/scavengers.

In this world, can you imagine the size of the wolf and dog packs now? Zombies would be easy munchies.

They do still bite, but I wouldn't be surprised if packs could take down lone walkers/stragglers from herds. Canines learn fast, and would figure out some way to bring them down with minimal risk.

Just take bites out of the legs until they fall down, take bites out of arms until they no longer function, and then feast on everything but the head.

 Breotan wrote:
Also, cars need to stop working. Gasoline won't last a year before breaking down and becoming unusable as fuel, even if horded in a storage tank. In this bold new world it's wind, solar, or gtfo.

I think that's a big "it depends." I've used year-old gasoline before, and while I'm sure it had degraded, things ran okay. It certainly will be an issue going forward...and I expect that the show will deal with this, as the comic is at the moment.

And there are ways of running vehicles without gasoline...enter wood gasification.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
They do still bite, but I wouldn't be surprised if packs could take down lone walkers/stragglers from herds. Canines learn fast, and would figure out some way to bring them down with minimal risk.

Just take bites out of the legs until they fall down, take bites out of arms until they no longer function, and then feast on everything but the head.

Mountain lions and bears will be having a field day too. Australian drop bears might number in the millions by now.

 gorgon wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
Also, cars need to stop working. Gasoline won't last a year before breaking down and becoming unusable as fuel, even if horded in a storage tank. In this bold new world it's wind, solar, or gtfo.

I think that's a big "it depends." I've used year-old gasoline before, and while I'm sure it had degraded, things ran okay. It certainly will be an issue going forward...and I expect that the show will deal with this, as the comic is at the moment.

And there are ways of running vehicles without gasoline...enter wood gasification.

Ethanol gas turns to crap within just a few months, but does non-ethanol turn so quickly?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Frazzled wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
They do still bite, but I wouldn't be surprised if packs could take down lone walkers/stragglers from herds. Canines learn fast, and would figure out some way to bring them down with minimal risk.

Just take bites out of the legs until they fall down, take bites out of arms until they no longer function, and then feast on everything but the head.

Mountain lions and bears will be having a field day too. Australian drop bears might number in the millions by now.

Would be interesting to see how large wildlife would recover in a zombie apocalypse.

Eventually they begin using horses in the comics.

One group even converts a shipping container into a giant stage coach drawn by six horses.

remember - Comic talk in spoiler tags please!

 Breotan wrote:
I can see people in Texas herding walkers into those large tanks you see at oil refineries and then lighting it up once full.

Also, cars need to stop working. Gasoline won't last a year before breaking down and becoming unusable as fuel, even if horded in a storage tank. In this bold new world it's wind, solar, or gtfo.

I am actually suprised more people dont harness the Z"s for energy... michonne is the only one to even use them so far in the series.


Think about it, get all the bitey claw bits cut off the Z's then you can tether them like horses have em pull carts or run in electricity generating hamster wheels or something.

 Kanluwen wrote:

The problem is then you have zombies on fire.

If one flaming zombie gets out of the quarry(we saw a few squeezing past the lower set of trucks) and makes it into the brush nearby, you might have a wildfire going...and that would be a Bad Thing.

Except that the premise of the show is that zombies are attracted to noise, and all those zombies burning would actually be quite a loud noise. So as long as you hurl your molotov cocktail deep into the horde (stand up on the top of one of those big-rigs and huck it), once the fire gets going, the zombies would just keep moving towards the bonfire rather than wandering away once on fire.

And as for everyone else talking about wildlife vs. zombies, there was a great article a few years back talking about how zombies wouldn't stand a chance:

http://boingboing.net/2013/10/14/zombiesvsanimals.html

I mean, they're basically like humans except without the intelligence, speed or cognitive ability to flee when in danger. So in other words, zombies are like the perfect prey for animals. But again, we have to ignore all those facts in order to have the fun!

 easysauce wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
I can see people in Texas herding walkers into those large tanks you see at oil refineries and then lighting it up once full.

Also, cars need to stop working. Gasoline won't last a year before breaking down and becoming unusable as fuel, even if horded in a storage tank. In this bold new world it's wind, solar, or gtfo.

I am actually suprised more people dont harness the Z"s for energy... michonne is the only one to even use them so far in the series.


Think about it, get all the bitey claw bits cut off the Z's then you can tether them like horses have em pull carts or run in electricity generating hamster wheels or something.

In one of the shorts a character does exactly what Michonne does with the zombie on a lead thing. Then there's all the survivors who use zombies in traps and perimeter security (or youknow, the whole Whisperers thing from the comics).

IIRC someone does burn the zombies and use them for fueling a fire at one point. Not sure if that's in the comics/ tv series/ novels. Though if we're going into the manual labour subject then we have Shaun of the Dead's ending... Though the more civilized people in the series don't really like the idea of having zombies around at all, and seem to find horses and other labour animals easily enough.

 Frazzled wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
They do still bite, but I wouldn't be surprised if packs could take down lone walkers/stragglers from herds. Canines learn fast, and would figure out some way to bring them down with minimal risk.

Just take bites out of the legs until they fall down, take bites out of arms until they no longer function, and then feast on everything but the head.

Mountain lions and bears will be having a field day too. Australian drop bears might number in the millions by now.

Unless there's something that's making animals not want to touch them. Maybe they clue in that something doesn't smell right.

Animals in the series are shown to eat the zombies. The writer's made it clear that its only humans who can be infected. However it seems that most animals don't hunt zombies, probably due to them coming in hordes and the animals preferring meat which isn't rotting. Yes though, there's an animal later in the comics which seems to have no issue chowing down on zombies in its spare time, and in the novels packs of rabid dogs pick off stray zombies.

Why rabid dogs specifically?

...? Because a feral dog is more likely to ham on a person than a tame one? Though people are encountering aggressive dogs weeks into the apocalypse, so there probably aren't many household pets left out there (there's a scene in the show where the group are attacked by former pets IIRC).

 yakface wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

The problem is then you have zombies on fire.

If one flaming zombie gets out of the quarry(we saw a few squeezing past the lower set of trucks) and makes it into the brush nearby, you might have a wildfire going...and that would be a Bad Thing.

Except that the premise of the show is that zombies are attracted to noise, and all those zombies burning would actually be quite a loud noise. So as long as you hurl your molotov cocktail deep into the horde (stand up on the top of one of those big-rigs and huck it), once the fire gets going, the zombies would just keep moving towards the bonfire rather than wandering away once on fire.

And as for everyone else talking about wildlife vs. zombies, there was a great article a few years back talking about how zombies wouldn't stand a chance:

http://boingboing.net/2013/10/14/zombiesvsanimals.html

I mean, they're basically like humans except without the intelligence, speed or cognitive ability to flee when in danger. So in other words, zombies are like the perfect prey for animals. But again, we have to ignore all those facts in order to have the fun!

The one downside to the Molotov theory is that people don't burn that great. You would need a good bit of fuel on target to actually cook the brains. But...an enterprising cowboy could hook up a hose to a tanker car and an air tank and there you go.

Flames work. A nice quarry where they get tangled and start crushing each other works pretty well. People are pretty weak. Dead people are weaker.
A nice alternative would just be a waste dump. Dig the usual trenches, fill em up. cover em over. Cut another trench. Voila.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 yakface wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

The problem is then you have zombies on fire.

If one flaming zombie gets out of the quarry(we saw a few squeezing past the lower set of trucks) and makes it into the brush nearby, you might have a wildfire going...and that would be a Bad Thing.

Except that the premise of the show is that zombies are attracted to noise, and all those zombies burning would actually be quite a loud noise. So as long as you hurl your molotov cocktail deep into the horde (stand up on the top of one of those big-rigs and huck it), once the fire gets going, the zombies would just keep moving towards the bonfire rather than wandering away once on fire.

And as for everyone else talking about wildlife vs. zombies, there was a great article a few years back talking about how zombies wouldn't stand a chance:

http://boingboing.net/2013/10/14/zombiesvsanimals.html

I mean, they're basically like humans except without the intelligence, speed or cognitive ability to flee when in danger. So in other words, zombies are like the perfect prey for animals. But again, we have to ignore all those facts in order to have the fun!

Excellent article. I have this image of herd of thousands of shamblers making it into Kansas, and just being run over by a small herd of ticked off buffalo.

I remember a horse that did not do well last season.

 Jihadin wrote:
I remember a horse that did not do well last season.

Yeah, but its pretty much BS. The only way an animal is going to get eaten by a walker is if it is domesticated and somehow thinks that walkers are still people who won't hurt them, if it gets injured and can't escape or somehow wanders into a dead-end. Otherwise, prey animals are going to look at walkers like any other predator that is trying to come and eat them and just run away from them, and predator animals are going to look at walkers like either lunch or a threat that they need to kill, and in either case the animals will generally be far more well equipped to finish off the walkers than the walkers are well equipped to kill the animal.

Indeed. This appeared to be a healthy mustang as well. Unless the horse is hurt or penned up it would go through zombies like gak through a goose and just run off.

 Wyrmalla wrote:
...? Because a feral dog is more likely to ham on a person than a tame one? Though people are encountering aggressive dogs weeks into the apocalypse, so there probably aren't many household pets left out there (there's a scene in the show where the group are attacked by former pets IIRC).

Rabid, as in a dog infected with the rabies virus, is not the same as a feral dog.

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
...? Because a feral dog is more likely to ham on a person than a tame one? Though people are encountering aggressive dogs weeks into the apocalypse, so there probably aren't many household pets left out there (there's a scene in the show where the group are attacked by former pets IIRC).

Rabid, as in a dog infected with the rabies virus, is not the same as a feral dog.

Oh OT....

 Wyrmalla wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
...? Because a feral dog is more likely to ham on a person than a tame one? Though people are encountering aggressive dogs weeks into the apocalypse, so there probably aren't many household pets left out there (there's a scene in the show where the group are attacked by former pets IIRC).

Rabid, as in a dog infected with the rabies virus, is not the same as a feral dog.

Oh OT....

A feral dog can be rabid of course, but a domesticated dog can be rabid too. I was curious as to why only rabid dogs would attack walkers, when feral or stray dogs could make a meal out of one just as well.

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
...? Because a feral dog is more likely to ham on a person than a tame one? Though people are encountering aggressive dogs weeks into the apocalypse, so there probably aren't many household pets left out there (there's a scene in the show where the group are attacked by former pets IIRC).

Rabid, as in a dog infected with the rabies virus, is not the same as a feral dog.

Oh OT....

A feral dog can be rabid of course, but a domesticated dog can be rabid too. I was curious as to why only rabid dogs would attack walkers, when feral or stray dogs could make a meal out of one just as well.

You're getting caught up on semantics .=P

My earlier comment about animals not eating the zombies has to do with two things. First, most animals are not carrion eaters. Second, most animals won't eat carrion that is actively trying to eat them. Also, zombies don't sleep so they pretty much hunt 24 hours a day. That means other animals are constantly having to evade, especially in high-population areas.

That said, I can see vultures and such getting fat and breeding like rabbits.

 Breotan wrote:
My earlier comment about animals not eating the zombies has to do with two things. First, most animals are not carrion eaters. Second, most animals won't eat carrion that is actively trying to eat them. Also, zombies don't sleep so they pretty much hunt 24 hours a day. That means other animals are constantly having to evade, especially in high-population areas.

That said, I can see vultures and such getting fat and breeding like rabbits.

US only:
Wolves, coyotes, bears, vultures, insects (the real eaters). Insects will be literally all over these guys. Frankly the way Nature and insects evolve we might have especially evolved zombie eating bugs in a few years.

 easysauce wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
I can see people in Texas herding walkers into those large tanks you see at oil refineries and then lighting it up once full.

Also, cars need to stop working. Gasoline won't last a year before breaking down and becoming unusable as fuel, even if horded in a storage tank. In this bold new world it's wind, solar, or gtfo.

I am actually suprised more people dont harness the Z"s for energy... michonne is the only one to even use them so far in the series.


Think about it, get all the bitey claw bits cut off the Z's then you can tether them like horses have em pull carts or run in electricity generating hamster wheels or something.

Zombie grinders... powered by zombies.

i love it.

 Breotan wrote:
My earlier comment about animals not eating the zombies has to do with two things. First, most animals are not carrion eaters. Second, most animals won't eat carrion that is actively trying to eat them. Also, zombies don't sleep so they pretty much hunt 24 hours a day. That means other animals are constantly having to evade, especially in high-population areas.

That said, I can see vultures and such getting fat and breeding like rabbits.

A lot of NA carnivores are opportunistic scavengers- of its easier to eat carrion they will. Lone Zombies wouldn't stand a chance against any typical predator in NA- undead or not.

 Desubot wrote:

 easysauce wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
I can see people in Texas herding walkers into those large tanks you see at oil refineries and then lighting it up once full.

Also, cars need to stop working. Gasoline won't last a year before breaking down and becoming unusable as fuel, even if horded in a storage tank. In this bold new world it's wind, solar, or gtfo.

I am actually suprised more people dont harness the Z"s for energy... michonne is the only one to even use them so far in the series.


Think about it, get all the bitey claw bits cut off the Z's then you can tether them like horses have em pull carts or run in electricity generating hamster wheels or something.

Zombie grinders... powered by zombies.

i love it.

If Warhammer Fantasy has taught us anything, that is totally possible.

*points at the Corpse Cart*

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
...? Because a feral dog is more likely to ham on a person than a tame one? Though people are encountering aggressive dogs weeks into the apocalypse, so there probably aren't many household pets left out there (there's a scene in the show where the group are attacked by former pets IIRC).

Rabid, as in a dog infected with the rabies virus, is not the same as a feral dog.

Oh OT....

A feral dog can be rabid of course, but a domesticated dog can be rabid too. I was curious as to why only rabid dogs would attack walkers, when feral or stray dogs could make a meal out of one just as well.

Because rabid dogs lose their self preservation instincts, making them more aggressive and likely to attack?

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
...? Because a feral dog is more likely to ham on a person than a tame one? Though people are encountering aggressive dogs weeks into the apocalypse, so there probably aren't many household pets left out there (there's a scene in the show where the group are attacked by former pets IIRC).

Rabid, as in a dog infected with the rabies virus, is not the same as a feral dog.

Oh OT....

A feral dog can be rabid of course, but a domesticated dog can be rabid too. I was curious as to why only rabid dogs would attack walkers, when feral or stray dogs could make a meal out of one just as well.

Because rabid dogs lose their self preservation instincts, making them more aggressive and likely to attack?

Sure, but a year or two into a Zombie apocalypse would strays and ferals avoid feeding on walkers, and only rabids attack? I would think they'd just as happily munch a walker if they were a bit hungry.