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The sequel to my last question that is hopefully more meaningful.

The zombie rules just in case you are new: "An unfortunate person gets infected, then the unfortunate person dies. After the unfortunate person dies the corpse is preserved (The bacteria brutally murders other pathogens that are near/in the body that cause decomposition) and the brain neurons are brought back. When someone dies it takes a while for the neurons to die as well so I think it's possible. The brain cells also get mutated so they would be xerotolerant (edited to fix mistake) and anaerobic. The infected unfortunate person rises a minute after death to eat other guys."

We've established in the last question that because the zombies are anaerobic, they would be releasing lactic acid, which would slowly dissolve the muscle tissues. (They say that the human body would slowly get it out via metabolism, but most of the zombie's body functions are gone. By the way zombies only shamble so hopefully that would slow down the accumulation of lactic acid) and because the zombie bacteria gets nutrition from breaking down things like organs that are no longer necessary for a zombie's "survival", they would be releasing ammonia too. Not sure what it does but I'm pretty sure it's what causes dead corpses to bloat and go kaboom. Don't know if there are more types of waste products for them being xenotolerant though, if there are tell me.

So the question is to think of a way to find a way for the zombies to release these waste products so the they don't melt or explode. Hopefully zombies don't fart because it would be just way too comedic if they did that in the middle of an intense fight.

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  • $\begingroup$ Farting zombies... that die in 28 days, means all natural process are proceeding as normal. You're talking about supernatural reanimation so you can do w/e. $\endgroup$
    – Mazura
    Commented Mar 30 at 19:31

2 Answers 2

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They sweat

Humans do this too. We excrete water, along with trace amounts of electrolytes and minor toxins such as urea and lactic acid. Granted, the main function of our sweat is to cool off. But theoretically your zombies can excrete ammonia and lactic acid through their pores to get rid of waste.

This causes an awful smell

What causes ammonia smell in sweat?

Urea is produced when your body breaks down proteins. When your body produces urea faster than your kidneys can excrete it, some of that urea is leached out into your sweat where it breaks down into ammonia. This produces a distinctive and unpleasant ammonia sweat smell.

So your zombies stink. Real bad. And it has to do with their sweat.

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  • $\begingroup$ Huh. interesting but I guess this won't be an option in a dry environment. That's why I made them Xeno tolerant. If we could find a way around this we would end up with slimy and smelly zombies (gags) $\endgroup$
    – Hi0401
    Commented Jan 1, 2023 at 3:59
  • $\begingroup$ @Hi0401 humans still sweat in a dry environment. Actually, they sweat even more than in a humid one. But the sweat evaporates on their pores so they are never actually wet. They would still smell bad though. $\endgroup$
    – Theresa Kay
    Commented Jan 1, 2023 at 5:19
  • $\begingroup$ Also - I assume you mean xerotolerant? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerophile $\endgroup$
    – Theresa Kay
    Commented Jan 1, 2023 at 5:20
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah. But how would they be able to sweat if they are out of water? I remember that humans stop sweating if they lose too much. $\endgroup$
    – Hi0401
    Commented Jan 2, 2023 at 1:27
  • $\begingroup$ @Hi0401 they would excrete ammonia and lactic acid through their pores, just as humans sweat. But their “sweat” would not contain water. I’ll follow up with a link you can use to research this. $\endgroup$
    – Theresa Kay
    Commented Jan 2, 2023 at 1:35
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Well...

The Bacteria that cause a body to rot/bloat/release gas/explode are the same bacteria that you've said the Zombie Bacteria are hostile to.

Therefore, it's possible that as the Zombie Bacteria are consuming the organs of the host, that they don't release gas.

That said, assuming that this is the case - firstly - Farting Zombies is hilarious and I think you should go with that...

but exhausting all other options:

The Bacteria attacks the layer of fat under the skin first, this leads to the typical 'Zombie' appearance. The secondary result of this is that as the Skin inevitably gets nicked/cut/pierced, this provides a way out for the trapped gas as it only has to traverse the deteriorating Muscle layer, due to the fat no longer being in the way.

You could also add that this isn't a 100% scenario - sometimes a Zombie either has excess body fat or remarkably intact skin, meaning you can still have your typical 'Burster' type Zombie.

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  • $\begingroup$ What about the lactic acid? $\endgroup$
    – Hi0401
    Commented Dec 31, 2022 at 6:38
  • $\begingroup$ also the zombie bacteria does not attack other zombie bacteria, it just attacks whatever pathogen that comes nearby it does not recognize as an "ally" $\endgroup$
    – Hi0401
    Commented Dec 31, 2022 at 6:39

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