A freshly dead sea lion hits the beach....

Note the glossy, wet fur. The carcass is normal size and shape. There would be little to no smell associated with this carcass. In addition, the eyes would look normal or a bit cloudy.

Another view..... The sunken eyelids indicate that the eyes have already been scavenged.

An intact, normal torso soon after death. Freshly dead animals often look as if they were sleeping. Sometimes dead animals are called in by well-meaning members of the public as live, injured animals.

Note that this is a young, thin animal. It is important to remember that an abundance of blubber at time of death may speed the process of decay due to increased insulating properties.

Another view shortly after death.

As the process of decomposition progresses, the eyes will progressively sink in, if not scavenged.

The skin over the flippers is glossy, wet and normal-looking.

The same is true for the hind flippers.

One last view of a freshly dead sea lion....Now let's see how the same animal looks after one full week on the beach!

At first glance this sea lion still looks pretty fresh, but look closer!

Note that the eye sockets are even more sunken and perhaps a bit crusty-looking.

In addition, the carcass looks just a bit bloated, and standing nearby you'd certainly notice a pungent smell. In addition, the coat appears dry and bleached and the flippers are beginning to dry and curl at the tips.

If you touched the carcass you might feel the "crackly" feeling of postmortem gasses trapped under the skin.

Lets take a closer look!

On closer inspection, you see movement! Since last week, some flies have visited the carcass and deposited their eggs at natural openings, such as the mouth nose and eyes. The eggs hatched and developed into fly larvae (MAGGOTS). Note the presence of well-developed maggots in the eye socket and in both nostrils. This is MYIASIS, or you could describe the carcass as being "FLYBLOWN".

Don't forget that these natural openings occur at the "far" end of the carcass too! Look carefully at the preputial, vaginal and anal openings for clues as to the postmortem interval. Also remember that antemortem wounds and scavenge marks will also serve as an entry point for flies to deposit their eggs, as you can see! Many animals may come to feed on the maggots, including some shorebirds.

Now, two weeks after death the effects of postmortem decomposition are much easier to see externally. Much of the flesh has been removed and consumed by maggots and other natural "recyclers". This animal was placed in a area that was relatively free of scavengers, which may greatly speed up the process of skeltonization of the carcass.

Note that the fur is beginning to slough and the underlying skin is blotchy and discolored.

The maggot activity continues and the bones of the skull are now visible through holes in the skin. In this case the exposed tissues are visibly drying out due to full sun exposure. The pattern and pace of decomposition is variable, depending on such things as carcass size, location, shade or sun exposure, moisture, season and many other factors. This carcass was placed above the tideline on a protected sandy beach in Santa Cruz, California.

Carcass bloating (and presumably, smell) is maximal at this time. Note also how dried out the edges of the flippers are.

At this point mature maggots may drop off of the carcass to pupate, and emerge later as the next generation of flies.

Another view of the progressive dessication, discoloration and bloating.

At one month postmortem, the natural "recyclers" have nearly completed their task! Nearly all of the soft tissue is gone, leaving the parts that are hardest to break down: The skeleton, fur and parts of the dessicated hide.

At this point further decomposition slows and the smell of the carcass diminishes, although up close it is still smelly!

Because this restricted access beach was relatively free from larger scavengers such as dogs, and human disturbance, the cleaned bones have come to rest on the ground in positions close to their natural positions in the body. This is not a common finding on many of the beaches in California where activity from scavengers, pets and humans are much higher and may hasten carcass breakdown.