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Asked by caseym to Ed, Katie, Sam, Steve, Vera on 19 Jun 2011.
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Sam Tazzyman answered on 17 Jun 2011:
Actually it’s not just humans that get eaten by worms (and other things) when they are dead bodies – everything that dies gets eaten. The worms (and lots of other things) don’t come out from inside your body, though, rather they go to the body and eat it. This might seem disgusting at first but actually it’s rather wonderful. It means that all of the energy and nutrients in the person’s body get re-used by all these other organisms, which is very efficient.
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Ed Morrison answered on 17 Jun 2011:
When you die, your body is full of yummy food that other things want to eat. The worms come from the soil, or they hatch from eggs that insects lay in you. Waste not want not.
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Steven Daly answered on 18 Jun 2011:
I do not think worms and other insects care much about us looking pretty! It is very important that dead animals are recycled, because as Sam said this puts you nutrients and energy back into the environment. Without this there would be dead bodies everywhere, and not very much life.
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Vera Weisbecker answered on 18 Jun 2011:
I agree with the others, but here’s a bit of trivia regarding worms – there’s this a marine worm that is called “Osedax” which actually eats the bones of dead whales! Normally worms aren’t strong enough to eat bones.
If you want to be preserved, consider dying somewhere either very dry (you mummify) or very swampy (you fossilize)! You can also have yourself preserved with things like formalin, but that’s cheating.
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Katie Marriott answered on 19 Jun 2011:
Good answers from the others there! Plants use minerals from the soil so they have to get back in there somehow or the plants would not be able to survive. This happens by plants and animals decomposing when they die.
Comments
chelss commented on :
yuk, maybe ill get cremated now…
Anna commented on :
Hi CaseyM,
When you die, all the ‘friendly’ bacteria in your stomach and intestines start to mutliply because your body is not stopping their numbers getting out of control. They feed on all the food in your stomach and your muscle. They produce a lot of gas, which makes your body bloated. Some gas may escape from your mouth or bum! If insects can get to your body, they will, because your body provides a lot of good food for their offspring. Flies in particular like the smell of rotting bodies, and lay their eggs anywhere they can get into the body – up the nose, in the mouth, in the eyes etc. Their eggs hatch into larvae or maggots, which can look like worms. They very rapidly eat everything up – the skin and muscle – but they tend to leave the bones.
If you wanted to stay pristine and beautiful, you’d have to be embalmed, which is where they get rid of all the blood in your body and replace it with a thick formaldehyde mixture. This works to slow the process of decomposition for years, and I have seen some bodies that still look perfect after about 50 years! However, it doesn’t last forever. Another thing you could do is get yourself preserved by plastination, which is a technique used by Professor Von Hagens, who created the Body Worlds exhibition: http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html You could stay beautiful forever like that!
I think it is better for nature just to take its course. Your body would be really good food for a lot of organisms. As the other scientists have said, waste not, want not!