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Originally Posted by Solitaire1
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For the most part, a very interesting piece. Most of the reasons in that article explain why we haven't already faced a much larger epidemic. Natural barriers and weather extremes have helped us avoid catastrophe on many occasions. The fact that the infection is passed through biting has also been a major civilization-saver. If the infecting agent ever mutates to become airborne, it's extinction time for the human race. Actually, I've often wondered if that's what really got the dinosaurs.
Anyway, most of the reasons in the article are clearly helpful to the continuation of our species. Two of them, however, are somewhat flawed.
As for #7, Zombies don't really have natural predators. For some reason, bugs stay away from Zombies. I'm not sure why, but they do. I mean who here has seen a grouping of Zombies and an accompanying black cloud of flies following them around? And that's what it would be--just one big mass of buzzing motion that would give away a Zombie's position from 50 yards or more. Unfortunately, most insects that would joyfully devour any part of a human corpse want nothing to do with the walking dead. That goes for the larger predators as well. Bears, lions, wolves, and angry man-eating squid have no taste for the undead. They like fresher meat. As for scavengers, they don't mind a little seasoned decay, but they don't like their meals moving. So, there are only three things that will kill a Zombie--time, a really bad accident, and man himself.
This brings us to the other flawed reason in the article. Guns can be effective against Zombies but only when they are used correctly. It takes a steady hand to take out the undead at a safe distance. It's one thing to shoot Bambi out in the woods. It's another thing entirely to face down five or six Zombies staggering toward you. You have to shoot them in the head and cause sufficient damage to the brain. A low caliber rifle such as a rimfire .22 probably won't be very effective. At certain distances, the slug may not even breach the skull. Imagine the panic in that scenario. You get a clean shot at the head but the thing keeps coming. That's also what tends to happen in most encounters with untrained personnel utilizing handguns. When an assailant intent on malice is moving toward an armed individual, the person with a gun tends to aim for center mass, not the head. You just can't kill a Zombie that way.
Good article though. Thanks for the find.