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Putrefaction is the fifth stage of death, following pallor mortis, livor mortis, algor mortis, and rigor mortis.This process references the breaking down of a body of an animal post-mortem.
The three characteristics of putrefaction are discoloration, disfiguration, and dissolution. There are many factors that could affect the rate of putrefaction in animals such as age, body composition, temperature, and if the body is located in a wet or dry area. [8] Temperature must be between 0 °C and 48 °C for putrefaction to occur.
A fresh pig carcass. At this stage the remains are usually intact and free of insects. The corpse progresses through algor mortis (a reduction in body temperature until ambient temperature is reached), rigor mortis (the temporary stiffening of the limbs due to chemical changes in the muscles), and livor mortis (pooling of the blood on the side of the body that is closest to the ground).
Technique: Body cooling (measure body cooling to estimate time since death) Pigs: stages of body cooling after death. In pigs, the decrease in body temperature occurs in the eyeball, orbit soft tissue, rectum, and muscle tissue. [29] Up to 13 hours after death, eyeball cooling in pigs provides a reasonable estimate of time since death. [30]
The human body is composed of approximately: 64% water, 20% protein, 10% fat, 1% carbohydrate, 5% minerals. [1] The decomposition of soft tissue is characterized by the breakdown of these macromolecules, and thus a large proportion of the decomposition products should reflect the amount of protein and fat content initially present in the body. [4]
Along with common factors of temperature, humidity and element exposure, body habitus and clothing are an example of a component that can affect the rate of cooling of the body, and so its rate of decomposition. [5] [6] A very approximate rule of thumb for estimating the postmortem interval is as follows: [7] Warm and flaccid: less than 3 hours
The first signs of putrefaction are usually the discolorations of the body which can vary between shades of green, blue, red or black depending on 1) where the color changes are observed and 2) how far along within the decomposition process the observation is made. This phenomenon is known as marbling.
This usually happens around the second week of decomposition. Gas accumulation and bloating will continue until the body is decomposed sufficiently for the gas to escape. The third stage is putrefaction. It is the final and longest stage. Putrefaction is where the larger structures of the body break down, and tissues liquefy.