• qyron@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    A zombie outbreak would end in a few days by itself. In Africa, in a few hours.

    In the winter, between the cold destroying nerves and incapacitating movement and corpses getting waterlogged by rain, which would accelerate rot, zombies wouldn’t last long.

    In the heat, zombies would be quickly turned into maggot meals by every fly available. Add bloating from the heat and the entire situation would sort itself out quick and dirty.

    And let me just add another thought: our main advantage is our brains. Zombie crave for it but are not particularly known for using it. Any zombie trying to attack a wild animal would end up made in pieces. Bears would have a field day. Imagine the carnage by pigs and cows. A single wild boar would be capable of plowing through a horde. At some point, even dogs would turn feral and attack on sight any two legged figure.

    • Hasuris@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      A walking dead version? Sure. 28 days later? Nah. If those fuckers run like that, we’d be done for.

      Yes I realize 28 days later technically has no zombies but it’s a more probable scenario to have a virus infect people and make them mad than actual corpses walking around.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Confession: I do not like zombie movies or series. Too much eye candy, too much gore, too much too much.

        I do enjoy zombie/apocalypse like books.

        28 days later was where the infected acted like rabid mobs, running around in groups?

        If that was the case, a virus capable of super charging the aggression mechanism of an organism, two infected individuals would charge each other. If it’s agression based, pure, blind, agression would end itself by being too successful. Even if a groups of individuals somehow managed to maintain some sort of group mentality, any prey would be rendered to pieces. End of the line, no spreading.

        • Hasuris@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Yes that’s 28 days later. But they made them only act aggressively towards noninfected. So supercharged zombies in a way but they’d die after some time without food.

          • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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            1 year ago

            I won’t assert it as fact but I think rabid animals can’t distinguish between healthy and infected individuals. If not, the infected would just tear each other apart. It’s a desease; group instinct requires higher cognitive capability.

            And our bodies can last for about 3 weeks without food, assuming we are doing our best to conserve energy. Again, last 28 days and your chances of surviving go up.

    • aviationeast@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      How bout a zombie like virus that keeps the tissue alive but causes the conscious to fail avoiding say water but aggressively biting others, usually without killing them so the infection can run its course.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I was told that rabies just isn’t very good at infecting humans which is why you don’t see nightmare situations with it. One person dies, not an entire town.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Unless it kept enough mechanisms intact to retain a good amount of self preservation, it would fail. If it avoided water actively, it would die from thirst.

        Aggression is not a controlled impulse. It’s blind and does not measure outcome. How much would be enough to ensure transmission? A bite to the arm? Perhaps to the leg? Awfully specific.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Now that would be something to consider.

        A virus capable of extreme aggression to spread in brief but spectacular sprees but, if the host died, capable of preserving itself in a dormant state would pose a major threat.

        Sounds a bit like Ebola.

    • Punkie@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Zombies have a unique problem where their only means of reproduction are also their top predator and only food source.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        I’ve read authors where the virus is able to jump between host species.

        But given the classic approach, that is a problem.