Dry Times: 5-10 June 2007

10 June 2007: Decomposition is greatly slowed... Here is what we have learned so far:

1. We had 3 major mass movements of maggots off the carcass. The middle wave had by far the most maggots (4 June). The last wave was the least dense.
2. The same insects we expect on human corposes are also found on the bear.
3. Seemingly because of the dense fur and mass of the body, decomposition progressed somewhat differently with all of the maggot movement off the carcass originating around the abdomen.



9 June 2007: Very little blow fly activity is present (maggots and adults).

7 June 2007: Today, we saw the last (third) wave of wandering maggots leave the body. Dr. Dan Palmer of John Carroll University is a computer scientist specializing in swarm behavior, a means of analyzing group dynamics and their subsequent emergent properties.

7 June 2007: Here is the last wave... The first wave was more dense than this, and the second wave from 4 June 2007 (see below) was the most dense. This last wave composed the least number of maggots moving off synchronously.

7 June 2007: Dr. Palmer noticed that those individuals that were separate from a group simply oriented themselves away from the exclosure. Those within groups were positioned haphazardly, but the mass itself made consistent progress away from the carcass. This opens up new possible questions in using swarm theory to describe wandering maggot behavior!

5-6 June 2007: Very little bug activity (relatively speaking) is present. Sepsid and piophilid flies are still active, as are some muscids. Silphid larvae are common, and nitidulid adults are abundant at this time.