#6 - Dry Remains - 5/23/25

I would like to start by apologizing for my disappearance. I had to leave school (and thus my lab) temporarily due to medical issues, but now that I'm back, I can't wait to show you all of the footage that was captured in my absence! I am unable to add the videos themselves to my blog; however, if you would like to see them for yourself, please email me at murray.corbe.murray@gmail.com, and I'll gladly send them your way!

When watching the footage, it seemed as though fly activity was fairly regular during the day, until suddenly one of the calf's organs began to protrude out from its posterior. This gave the flies more access to the inner portion of the calf, as before, they mainly were eating tissue from the eyes and mouth. Not even a few days later, there was a surge of maggots on the body, which made the calf look as though it was bloating and breathing from the way the maggots moved inside the carcass.

To say I was surprised by how quickly the maggots spread would be an understatement. While watching the footage from the cameras, I was in awe of how quickly they accumulated and managed to devour the calf. They seemed to devour it form posterior to anterior in a way that I can only describe as cartoon termites devouring a tree.

In fig. 3, I have added an image of the final stage of the maggot mass on the remains. the fur was left untouched, along with the skin on the head and neck, which can be seen in fig. 4.

It was truly fascinating to watch this all happen so rapidly in the span of six or so days (referencing the footage timestamped with the dates 5/2/25 - 5/8/25 from the belly-side camera), and I'm excited to announce that I've gotten permission to re-run the lab with a stillborn lamb during the last two weeks of school!

I'll be sure to keep you all updated on the progress of the second run of the lab, and thank you for reading! :]