Humble Little Legless Maggots Dubbed Superhero Insect for Helping Humans Solve Murders, Cleaning Chronic Wounds

Maggots are usually found in garbage dumps and on dead bodies eating decomposing flesh. Although they are often considered a nuisance during summer for infecting and killing sheep, they are also deemed superheroes because they help solve crime mysteries.

They are a secret weapon in forensic entomology and cleaning chronic wounds because of their ability to survive and thrive in the decomposing matter. But how can these little legless insects help solve a murder and what do they really do?

(Photo: Unsplash/Robert Gunnarsson)
Humble Little Legless Maggots Dubbed Superhero Insect for Helping Humans Solve Murders, Cleaning Chronic Wounds

Maggots Thrive in Filth

Maggots are offsprings of blowflies. According to The Conversation article by Michelle Harvey, an associate professor from Deakin University, maggot eggs were laid on the moist, microbe-rich matter, such as food waste, a wound, a corpse, or anything palatable or decomposing.

Upon hatching, maggots would release enzymes and bacteria that will break down food sources into a soup that they drink with their cleverly designed bottoms for breathing. They would be feeding non-stop on this high nutrient and bacteria-rich soup, sometimes even without breathing and have high efficiency in recycling decomposing matter from garbage, food spoils, and human flesh. But not only that, their ability to survive and thrive in decomposing flesh is multi-faceted. For instance, they are attracted to anything decomposing and environments filled with bacteria.

Unfortunately, this could extend to live animals as wounds can also become hosts for maggots in a condition called myiasis that may become a problem in livestock, such as sheep, and result in discomfort and ultimately death for animals, costing millions of dollars lost.

ALSO READ: Disgusted Of Maggots? China Use Them To Finish Plates & Food Waste

Maggots Use in Forensic Entomology

More than the negative side of maggots thriving on the decomposing matter, they also serve as detectives moments after a dead person starts to decompose. The body produces odors that attract the flies to lay eggs on the body. Dove Press explained that forensic entomology estimates the age of insects on remains that will be used as the basis for the person's time of death.

According to National Geographic, not much is known about what attracts insects to the garbage dump or decomposing body, but they suspect the odors released when the body starts to decompose are a significant factor. Jeff Tomberlin, a forensic entomologist from A&M University in College Station, pointed out that death and decomposition are natural processes that play a crucial role in the ecosystem's operation.

Nutrients used by the living are returned to the environment upon their death, which is a necessary process that can be applied to forensic science human health. Forensic scientists have used valuable evidence in investigating deaths and emphasized that blowflies are especially attracted to decomposing bacteria-rich matter.

For now, scientists are exploring potential explanations as to why the bacteria in decomposing bodies do not affect or kill the maggots and even feed on them invisibly, something that humans want to exploit in human health care.

RELATED ARTICLE: Live Maggots Used by the NHS as Antibiotics: Is This an Effective Technique for Cleaning Wounds?

Check out more news and information on Maggots in Science Times.