Mercedes Martinez – Forensic Entomology – “The Circle of Life”

7/9/19 – For the past couple of days, I’ve been observing the insects that come and go from Squirrel B, as well as traveling around outside the ranch to a town called Bisbee, a once copper-mining town in the Mule Mountains.

I, of course, used this wonderful trip to fall into the tourist traps

I’ve also had the opportunity to meet with an actual FBI special agent, who discussed the forensics side of the profession and what I can do to get hired, if I so desired. I don’t know if mentioning his name would be the wisest choice, given his job and connections…

“Please direct your eyes to the Neutralizer” 👽

But I know the real thing you’ve all been waiting  for: decaying rodents and insects!

Oh boy….

I̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶o̶y̶!̶ ̶I̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶!̶ It’s a maggot!

Here are the fruits of my data collecting, bug-pinning labor:

They sure don’t smell like fruits…

An important lesson can be learned about where death dies in the grand scheme of life. It’s not pretty, it doesn’t smell nice, and it’s quite messy: but from death, comes life. It may not be life that we hold to high standards, but it’s life nonetheless. The flies lay eggs in the body. Beetles also lay their eggs, but they also prey on the maggots, and eat the flesh of the animal. These insects then fall prey to other animals higher on the food chain, and then those animals do the exact same thing, and so on. But the dead animal also benefits the plants around it by providing the soil with nitrogen and phosphate; this puts the animal in the carbon cycle, a process that puts carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.

Even animals that aren’t typically associated with death benefit from the decomposition process. Butterflies often drink the moisture that begins to appear on the body to keep themselves hydrated, especially in dry environments such as the Arizona desert.

Also, this reeking hunk of rodent can help train interns like me one of the few ways to identify time of death.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is there’s always a lesson to be learned and things to appreciate – even if you don’t see it at first! (Or the next day… Or the next day… or the day after that. It can be hard to notice things when you try to get rid of the corpse smell stuck in your nose.)