PIG DECOMP: Baseline data for northeastern Ohio

25 June 2007: While we are doing the bear decomposition study, we decided to put a domestic pig out in an area nearby. Laura Bock above has just placed the carcass out on the afternoon of 25 June. Pigs are often used during studies of forensic entomology because the body size, body cavity size, percent hair coverage, and other characters make pigs very similar to humans in terms of decompositional patterns. We will be gathering insect succession data, and keeping track of fly development to better hone our information on local insect forensic indicators.

25 June 2007: Like the bear, we placed caging around the pig to keep out large scavengers. We want to keep the bones to add to the Museum's osteology collection. Note that the frame of the cage has short legs, creating a space for wandering maggots to egress at a later date.

25 June 2007: Things happen fast at summer temps. Two hours after placement, we already have hundreds of female flies laying eggs (ovipositing) on the pig around the orifices of the head and anus.

26 June 2007: Less than 24 hours after placement, eggs have hatched and maggots are making fast work of the snout. Note the light area under the chin is actually an egg mass. The eyes, mouth, and nostrils are choked with 10's of thousands of maggots. The blow flies Lucilia illustris (a green bottle fly) and Phormia regina (the black blow fly) constitute the majority of these maggots.

27 June 2007: Two days into decomp the head is being rapidly consumed. The body is showing considerable swelling from bacterial gasses in the abdomen. Carrion and rove beetles are present hunting maggots.

28 June 2007: By day three the maggots are getting large and breaking the body down at a horrendously fast pace. The smell is awful, and the liquids of putrefication are staining the ground black. The maggot mass temperature, like with the bear, is 18 degrees C above ambient.

29 June 2007: By the fourth day, many maggots have matured and are leaving the carcass. The masses of maggots at the head and anus have appeared to meet in the middle, as the main body cavity is greatly decomposed. We have collected many maggots in ethanol, kept many alive in breeding containers (we're still using our nearby insectary), and have swept scores of adult flies to facilitate identification. We have been taking beetle adults and larvae using forceps.