Understanding how long a zombie can remain mobile is critical to surviving an outbreak. The types of mobility are discussed on the Motor Skills page.

This is an article to address at which point the Z will no longer be a viable threat because it's unable to bite, move, grab, etc.


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Bones aren't enough to provide movement. At what point will tissue deteriorate enough to stop a zombie from moving? For instance, would this thing be able to move?

Doesn't seem like it could.

The seemingly obvious answer is when the muscle tendons have deteriorated to a point where either they are no longer attached to the bones, or no longer strong enough to move the bones, and therefore unable to move the body along with it. How long this would take will be dependant on several factors:

• How large the muscles were to begin with (this will vary from cadaver to cadaver)
• The environment the Zombie is in. (Hot, humid areas will allow for greater decay than cold areas, but Zombies are also highly susceptible to freezing). - Zellgen
• The amount of physical damage inflicted on the Zombie by humans trying to resist infection, rats or other animals attempting to feed from the Zombies, or in defence of it's territory, or damage done to the Zombie by itself whilst trying to reach food (Zombies do not attempt to self-preserve their bodies).
• Zombies could also be slowed down from lack of hand-eye coordination, also the virus could slow down the rotting process therefore letting them continue unliving longer or possibly forever. If this is the case my best advice is shoot em in the kneecap and run like hell. - Colmo

Another factor in how fast they deteriorate is their oxygen intake.

• If Zack doesn't need oxygen, here is a quote from HowStuffWorks.com on muscles to say that he does "If you are going to be exercising for more than a couple of minutes, your body needs to get oxygen to the muscles or the muscles will stop working." Your muscles will start to die from lack of oxygen.
• If Zack managed to get past the need of oxygen to move, what about the energy required to move? Aerobic respiration is the "process of obtaining energy through the oxidation of organic molecules that form the food, the presence of free oxygen. The maintenance of the organism's life is only possible by the liberation of the chemical energy accumulated in food." So if Zack wants to move for a while before his body starts to decay like a person dying of starvation, he will need oxygen. -Spraymachine

Spraymachine i might have an answer for your question.

• The reason that the muscles would stop working if they don't get sufficient oxygen is because the brain sends signals to the muscles in question telling them to stop working so they don't cause damage to themselves.
• But a zombies brain would not bother sending the signal at all meaning the muscles would continue to work afterwards but would cause themselves damage how significant the damage would be i don't really know but it can't be too much at a time. - ReverantFaun

Sorry ReverantFaun, but Biology begs to differ:

I make no claims to being an expert in Biology. However, from my last semester in Biology I have managed to absorb enough information to prove the myth of the oxygen interdependent zombie (as seen in Romero Movies and written into The Zombie Survival Guide) to rest. Your answer assumes that muscles are oxygen independent and only the brain requires Oxygen. This is not, however, true. In every muscle cell (and in fact every cell in the body, though this does not matter for the process called "Cellular Respiration" takes place, where oxygen and glucose are converted into carbon dioxide and energy (which is why you exhale Carbon Dioxide) and from this process muscles obtain the energy for movement. If a zombie could not breath it would die just like any human because it's muscles would not have the oxygen necessary to move.

This myth has now been laid to rest.

~Stealthweasle

I beg to differ:
This is only true in rage , parasite and psychological/drug zombies types where the zombie is still technically alive.And its not just respiration the blood still needs to flow ... actually short of the higher brain functions every single organ and system is necessary. However it is true that using the full power of our muscles can crack our bones and rip ligaments, so there is still hope as the damage is cumulative ... but no decomposition.
As for the undead/animated and technological zombies types there function is outside the scope of biology, they don't need oxygen or food, but there are not effected by decomposition ... technically they can be nothing but bones and still move and see.
~IngerAlHaosului


IFB254- Something very quickly pointed out. If Z's do need to breathe, where does that leave any Zed trapped in the crushing depths of the ocean? Could they theoretically inhale, or would they drown?
chitoryu12 - As a response to that, any zombies tossed into the ocean that required oxygen would indeed drown. The lungs would fill with water and their respiratory passages would be blocked, so the zombie would not last too long.

It seems that how they move will change based on deterioration, soft tissue rots first so the groin, the inner arms, the face, and other places like that will rot before anything else so lets say the groin rots to nothing the zombie will probably start to move with their legs closer together which would cause less balance,it seems that in good conditions for mold to grow the zed would be immobile within a few weeks, I say days but the movement would keep bugs from eating it which is where most of the dead animals we see go.


Take a look at out other Zombie Science sections!

• Motor Skills