What happens to a body left unburied and uncovered after death?
The fresh stage can last a few days to even a week. Rigor mortis sets in and all the cells break down caused by the lack of oxygen and nutrients that help replenish themselves
When bacteria in the stomach can’t be kept in check any longer, they reproduce and feed on the insides of the body. This produces gas that causes the abdomen to bloat.
With gas building up, the pressure within the body increases and pushes out fluids. This causes the outer layers of skin to fall off.
Without the oxygen, haemoglobin in the blood binds to the sulphur instead and fills the arteries and veins with a green/black substance, causing the skin to have a marbling effect.
The increasing pressure in the body forces the fluids and liquified organs to leak out of every possible orrafice. Eyeballs can be dislodged and some bodies have been know to explode.
Chemicals released by the body attract insects. Blowflies are usually the first as they can smell death and rotting meat from 10km (6.2 miles) away. The flies lay eggs and maggots inhabit the body. Forensic entomologists can tell how long the body has been dead for by the types of insects that have eaten or reproduced in and on the body.
Other insects, such as beetles, are attracted to the body. Small birds are known to feed on dead bodies as well as local scavenging animals.
The last stage is skeletonisation. The soft tissue is fully lost. Wind, rain, erosion and abrasion take over and the skin and meat slide off the bone and dissolve in the area around it or get eaten by insects and animals. The bones are disarticulated over the following months and even years.
This process can take from three weeks to several years, depending on the surrounding environments.
