Skip to main content

The phenomenon of postmortem animal interference with human bodies or their remains is a substantial part of the taphonomic processes a body undergoes after death and animal depredation occurring after death is routinely encountered in forensic pathology. Postmortem injuries can be inflicted by all kinds of animals, irrespective of their size or environmental origin, whether from land, sea, or air. The discrimination between antemortem injury versus postmortem artifacts generally presents no difficulties because of the total absence of hemorrhages and reddening in the tissue adjacent to the wound margins and the lack of any vital reaction under the microscope.

Fig.1 Postmortem animal activity.

Latest posts

Fig.1

18-year-old man died in a motor vehicle crash

| Accident | No Comments
USA. This 18-year-old man died in a motor vehicle crash with rollover and ejection. No further info. Rollover…
Fig.1 Suicide with a hunting rifle.

Suicide with a hunting rifle

| Gunshot, Suicide | No Comments
This individual died after shooting himself under the chin with a hunting rifle. No further info. Head injuries…
Fig.2 The two separated parts of the skull.

Woman committed suicide with a band saw

| Suicide | No Comments
~1990s - A 48-year-old landlord’s wife suffering from chronic depression committed suicide with a band saw by amputation…
Fig.1 The female decedent was on her left side on the bed.

Woman killed in a murder-suicide

| Gunshot, Homicide, Suicide | No Comments
A 25-year-old woman had moved in with her 34-year-old boyfriend 3 weeks earlier. The brother of the boyfriend…