I was wondering about how many species of animals, birds, fish, etc. have been depicted as surviving in the TV show “The Walking Dead”. There has been deer, squirrel, some bird species (An owl, I think). Also, a dog or two, if my memory is accurate.
Given the threat of the zombies, I would suppose that a lot of domesticated animals would be toast. Wild animals, though… deer could certainly detect and outrun the ravenous hordes in most conditions. Birds could easily fly away. Zombies would be too slow and stupid to catch most fish.
What are your thoughts on the matter? It would be interesting to see other people’s perspectives.
“Life After People” was an interesting series. In the “Walking Dead” scenario, all of earth’s remaining beasties would have the additional threat, of course : they would have to cope with the undead humans feasting upon them, or at least attempting to do so!
Presumably if the organism worked on non-human life we would have seen evidence of it in zom-deer / zom-dogs etc on the Walking Dead. They seem to not resurrect when caught and eaten.
Walking Dead seems to imply transmission is only by biting [?saliva] as Rick etal have had numerous scratches, splatters of blood, brain and fluid and abrasions on them, while in the World War Z book the point is made that the contaminated flesh is toxic to other life forms including rot-inducing bacteria. Any remaining living scavengers such as dogs must have taught themselves to avoid zombie corpses or the afflicted.
Apart from the implied loss of all living things in The Road, I cant think of a zombie movie that explicitly includes animals as either susceptible / collateral damage, although I’m sure other readers will come forward with them.
It all depends on the creative whims of the author and his/her rules for zoimbies, which vary more from person to person that rules for vampires. Most, I think, ignore animals. In my zombie apocalypse story After the Bucket, it’s stated that the zombies went after pets in urban areas, so they quickly got eaten or fled, and it’s implied that they’re not subject to becoming zombies. In the most recent version of I Am Legend, Will Smith is threatened by Zombie Dogs (which don’t show up in the previous movie versions, or in Matheson’s original book).
I haven’t watched “The Walking Dead” or read the graphic novels, so I don’t know their particular rules.
I remember the first episodes of WD always seemed to have crow sounds in the background. Lately, not so much. So the walkers must have gotten the birds. After all, crows are carrion eaters so they’d swoop down on what they thought was a body and the body would get them.
I think World War Z discussed it. The whales and other marine life got hit hard because of survivors living in makeshift flotillas. And I think the WWZ zombies did feed on wildlife.
But practically speaking, very few wild animals would have much to fear from traditional slow moving zombies. Ever try to run down a deer, bird, or a squirrel? Most wildlife lives where people are scarce, so you wouldn’t expect to see thousands of zombies surrounding a grizzly or polar bear.
On the other hand, domesticated animals would have a pretty rough time of it. Dogs and cats would go feral and some large numbers would survive, especially in the first few years when you can expect bumper crops of rodents and other prey animals who are feasting on the remnants of society. Horses and cows and domesticated fowl, on the other hand, would go pretty close to extinct. Maybe you’d get packs of wild horses out west. Sheep would be too stupid to run from zombies. Goats would try to eat them and probably die.
Not that I would ever challenge you on the Printed Word but didn’t the dog Neville found get bitten and start to turn? I know he found a stray and ended up having to put it down.
It is set in Georgia for a reason. Flat, lots of trees, heavily populated (or was heavily populated). So a nightmare for all living things. The zombies are not fast, but are determined.
I imagine most deer and hogs and dogs would be gone quickly. They can only run so much. Raccoons and possums and cats would do better, but the zombies would eventually get them too. Or they would just die in whatever tree they climbed up. Squirrels and birds would be fine.
Wildlife in the west would much fare better. Less population, and more varied geography.
Game of Thrones is interesting as the wildlife goes zombie too. Living dead polar bears and mammoths…
They’re SHAMBLERS, not Terminators. 95% of all dogs and cats have nothing to worry about. We have a hard time catching dogs and cats if they don’t want to be caught. A shambler has no chance.
The walkers took down Rick’s horse in the very first episode.
They also took down a dog during the prison season – I remember seeing them feasting on it during a scene.
I think certain animals would be more apt to survive than others. Domesticated animals would be the first to go. The more wild the animal, the better the chances.
The combined population of Georgia and bordering states is over 50 million. Zombies would be everywhere. Not fast, but more than willing to wait cornered prey out. Plus animals that get chased out of the habitat they know usually starve.
put on geek hat Correction on the zombie transmission. As established in the second (?) season, everyone in the world has the zombie disease. It only manifests itself when you die. Every one will turn in to a Zombie when you die. The bite of a Zombie hastens death, and therefore hastens the onset of becoming a Zombie. Just FYI. takes off geek hat
Population is not the same thing as population density. It’s not like all 50,000,000 zombies are going to converge on the same pasture and surround some poor deer. Georgia has 38,000,000 acres and 10,000,000 people. So one zombie every 3.8 acres, if they spread themselves out evenly and assuming that they are all mobile. More likely, there’d be cities and suburbs with tens of thousands of stumbling zombies surrounded by acres of nothing but deer and squirrels with the occasional laughable stumbling zombie.
There is the possibility of (formerly) human “locust” hordes where a hundred thousand zombies end up marching en masse in one direction, but I think trees, brush, walls, and fences would thin their ranks before long and make it hard to keep up a coherent “wall” of people.
Considering the range most big predators have, 2,500,000 or so zombie on 40,000,000 acres would have a huge ecological impact. They are portrayed decent enough hunters.
But yeah, really depends on how (and if) they dispersed out of Atlanta and Miami.
I think the show portrays the numbers well. And the wildlife situation too. Hardly any domesticated animals left. But a few deer, and the mention of a raccoon or two.
I am sure the rat population would go exponential…
Disagree. Have you ever hunted wild hogs? They’re unpleasant and aggressive, and would be a match for the shambling walkers in the WD universe. If nothing else, limbs would be removed from torsos.
And deer…they figure out pretty quickly what’s dangerous.
but didn’t the dog Neville found get bitten and start to turn? I know he found a stray and ended up having to put it down.