Skip to main content

Nassau County, New York. This badly burned body had been dumped at an outside location where animals fed on the cadaver. Bodies are also subject to animal feeding, indoors as well as outdoors. Animals feed off the remains of a dead human body just as they feed off any other piece of meat. Bodies that have been mutilated by domestic and wildlife creatures or insect activity may give an appearance of gross injury, which is not necessarily associated with an antemortem attack. In addition, certain portions of the body may have been carried away or be missing from the cadaver due to animal activity. Practically speaking, investigators must be careful not to jump to any false conclusions based on their initial observations at scenes of this type.

Fig.1 Animal feeding on badly burned body.

Latest posts

Fig.1 Diptera larvae collected from the ocular cavity of a cadaver in active decay.

Diptera larvae collected from the ocular cavity of a cadaver

| Decomposition | No Comments
On June 28, 2009, a 70-year-old male corpse was found in his house in Pisa. He was lying…
Fig.1 Skin burns on a victim of lysol suicide.

Skin burns on a victim of lysol suicide

| Suicide | No Comments
Skin burns on a victim of lysol suicide. The trickle pattern makes it obvious that the victim was…
Fig.1 Greenish white molds on the forehead, right side of the cheek, perioral, and perinasal areas, and anterior part of neck, and chest.

Fungal growth on a corpse

| Decomposition | No Comments
A 42-year-old woman was discovered dead, the body was covered with fungal plaques. She had been leading a…
Fig.1 Contact wound, between the eyes from a .357 Magnum revolver.

Contact wound between the eyes from a .357 Magnum revolver

| Gunshot, Suicide | No Comments
Massive injuries from contact handgun wounds of the head, when they do occur, are associated with Magnum calibers,…