Amazing Animals that Live after Death

 Amazing Animals that Live after Death

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

Brainless Frog 

Usually you’d consider an animal dead once its brain or head is removed, but that isn’t quite the case with frogs. Like other animals on this list, dead frogs still exhibit much of the same behavior found in their living counterparts. In experiments where scientists removed the brains from frogs, they found that the frogs could still hop, swim in water, move away when touched and reorient itself if turned upside down. They could even croak when their back was stroked! The main difference between the living and dead behavior of frogs is the lack of spontaneous movement. Whereas living frogs might move around randomly, these dead frogs only move in reaction to external stimuli. This is because the anatomy of frogs is relatively simple compared to humans and so their reflexes can essentially run the whole frog without any input from the brain. However, scientists noticed that if the body wasn’t exposed to any stimuli, the body would just sit there without moving indefinitely.

Cockroaches 

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

You may have heard the myth that cockroaches will be the only thing left after a nuclear blast, but just how durable are they really? Would you have guessed that they can survive not hours or even days without a head, but weeks? You heard that correctly, they can live for weeks! This is because unlike humans, cockroaches have an open circulatory system which is relatively low pressure. So they wouldn’t bleed out like a human might because their necks would seal itself before that happened. They also wouldn’t run out of air like a human would because they breathe through little holes in their body segments called spiracles. These tubes bring blood directly to their tissue rather than having to circulate oxygen throughout their body. Finally, one of the key reasons they can continue to live without a head for weeks is because of the clumps of nerve tissue located throughout their body called ganglia. Think of these as small brains that help maintain some of the body’s functions and reflexes. In fact, the only real limiting factors for headless cockroaches are their inability to eat or drink. Even then, roaches can go quite some time without taking in any nutrients. They’ll dehydrate before they ever starve to death, so it’s almost like food isn’t much of a factor anyway! So don’t be too scared if you see a decapitated cockroach running around. It may take a couple of weeks, but it will die eventually.

Headless Snakes 

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

Snakes can be scary enough on their own, but coupled with the ability to remain lethal even after death, can make them even more terrifying! Many venomous snakes have been known to retain their nerve functions, brain activity, and reflexes hours after death. This is even true after complete decapitation! The bodies can be seen slithering and rising off the ground as if it were still alive. Meanwhile, the head may lash out and bite at anyone who happens to get too close. So if you’ve decapitated one, be careful! It might just try to take you down with it. How is this possible? Well, because reptiles are ectothermic (or cold-blooded) they have a much slower metabolism, which allows them to sustain their organs longer after being decapitated. Furthermore, the fact that the venom glands are stored in the head means that they have full access to their deadly bites while decapitated. Some snakes, like rattlesnakes, also have heat-sensitive pits in the front of their face, allowing the head to sense when you get close so it can strike! So remember to be careful around snakes whether they are alive or dead. Or they might just come back to bite you in the end.

Heartless Turtles 

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

Considering that many turtles are amphibious creatures, they need to be dynamic in order to survive. In some ways, they are versatile enough to survive after death. Take the loggerhead musk turtle, for instance; it has been documented diving for up to 5,000 hours before surfacing for air. For most animals, even aquatic ones, that would be long enough without air to keel over. However, it is a fairly typical task for the turtle. However, it’s not their living functions that give them their place on this list, but the ones that happen after death. They have been known to have their heart beat for up to an hour after being completely removed from the body. Or even for days if left in the body! One study dissected a turtle and refrigerated it, leaving the heart inside the body, and it continued to beat for 5 days! Now that is just miraculous! (Although I don’t know what kind of people are performing these kinds of experiments. It sounds pretty brutal!) This is because their hearts have special “pacemaker” cells that help it continue beating even without signals from the brain. This coupled with their ability to break down glycogen for energy without needing oxygen helps power the heart for quite some time. Especially since there is a relatively large amount of glycogen stored around the turtle’s heart. So I guess you can say that no matter what, this turtle’s heart will never miss a beat

Bees and Wasps 

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

Nobody likes being stung by bees, but luckily they only really sting when threatened. And the bright stripes serve as a nice little warning to stay away from them, but did you know you should leave them alone whether they are alive or dead? This is because dead bees and wasps are still able to sting you even if decapitated or dismembered. As long as their abdomen is relatively intact, the muscles, ganglia, venom sac, and stinger are still able to function and sting you for as long as an hour after death. It is actually pretty common for people to be stung after stepping on or picking up a dead bee. The body will continue to react to being moved, digging the stinger deeper and pumping venom into its victim. I actually know this for a fact because the only time I have ever been stung by a bee is because my father picked up a dead one and put it in my hand so I could look at it when I was little. I got stung right in the palm of my hand. Just make sure you are not around other bees if you are accidentally stung by a dead one. Their stings can release a chemical to alert other bees or wasps to threats so they can swarm and attack! So be sure to bee careful around them.

Disembodied Tentacles 

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

Much like the predatory snakes, the octopus has body parts that live on after being severed from the head or killed completely. You see, octopi have 130 million neurons, but they aren’t all housed in their brains like humans. Many of them are located throughout their tentacles. Scientists speculate this is how octopi can multi-task and use their limbs so efficiently. Furthermore, this is believed to be the reason why the tentacles can seem to move and function just as they normally would, even if the octopus is dead or if the tentacle has been severed. Similar to snakes, the limbs can continue reacting to stimuli even an hour after losing their connection to the brain. The severed tentacle will continue to navigate the world around them and even grab food and attempt to bring it to where its mouth would be (if it were still attached). Researchers have experimented with euthanizing an octopus, cutting off its limbs and then submerging them in ice water for an hour. Even then, the limbs responded to being probed. Out in the wild, dolphins and seals have washed up on shore after attempting to devour an octopus. The limbs continued to move after death, and suffocated its would-be predators. It would appear that the neurons really give the tentacles a mind of their own, thus making octopi one of the strangest animals that continue to live after death.

Alaskan Wood Frog 

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

Freezing and coming back to life is pretty common in scifi shows and movies, but for this next animal it’s just a typical winter. Like many other northern frogs, the Alaskan wood frog enters a period of dormancy during the cold winter months. However, it does it in a dramatically different way than most frogs – by freezing almost completely. You heard that right, this frog has 2/3 of the water inside of it freeze, thaw, and refreeze multiple times throughout the winter season. They can spend up to 7 months in this cycle of freezing and thawing. Meanwhile it can survive days or even weeks without breathing or having a heart beat. Then once winter is over, it will simply thaw out and hop on its way! That’s pretty remarkable, huh? In order to avoid dying during the harsh Alaskan winters, the wood frog builds up urea and glucose in their body which act as cryo-protectants. Cryo-protectants are substances that protect biological tissue from freezing damage. These help keep water contained within the cells and limit the amount of ice that can form in the body. Thus these frogs that are no bigger than the palm of your hand are able to freeze and essentially die for the winter only to return back to life.

Water Bears 

Amazing Animals that Live after Death

As you can probably see, water bears are not actual bears. It’s a nickname given to an 8-legged micro-animal called the tardigrade. These little guys are no longer than a millimeter and are typically found living in water or other moist environments. However, they can essentially survive in the most extreme conditions on (and off) the planet. No matter what happens to them, water bears just don’t seem to die. They have been boiled, dried out, frozen to -328 degrees Fahrenheit, placed under extreme pressure, and exposed to the vacuum of space and radiation. Scientists have also been able to revive water bears that have been frozen for 30 years just by thawing them and exposing them to water. They’ve also survived all 5 of Earth’s mass extinctions. Now that is impressive! We have since learned that water bears can survive such harsh conditions by entering a state of suspended animation where all of their biochemical processes cease. The water bears then produce a special protein which they fill their bodies with, to replace the water being lost. This protein acts as a glass-like protective coating that reinforces the body and preserves its cells. It can sit in this state for an incredibly long period until it is exposed to water again at which point it will come back to life in a matter of hours. For its size, this little fella is incredibly durable and can basically come back from death several times over.