Forensic Entomology Lab

   Over the course of a few weeks, our young forensic prodigies observed the decomposition rate of an average pig shoulder. During the observation we looked at changes in the skin, the scent it gave off, and the insects  it attracted. 

      Since it was warm outside we knew that the decomposition rate was going to be accelerated. Starting from September 8th we took the fresh pig shoulder and laid it under a cage so it wouldn't be disturbed by animals other than insects. Since it was only the first day we hadn't had much of a spectacle, aside from a single blowfly. The next day the pork had a slight odor and the texture of it had more of a dried and redder look. It had also gathered eggs, from a group of flies. 
      Over time the pork began to shrink and started to darken in color. The maggot mass was getting bigger and the eggs had developed into maggots. The scent was becoming more putrid by the day. We were finding pupa inches away from the shoulder. Eventually the maggots had eaten so much of the shoulder the flesh had collapsed and the flies and other insects had been done with it.
       The project was to observe the PMI of the pork shoulder. Our work was pretty inconsistent with the data from other published data. We had made errors like leaving it out without checking it along with some other variables. If everything had gone accordingly we should've been able to calculate the PMI and got the ADD and ADH. This information would have been applied to a real life scenario such as to figure out the time of death of a victim.