On September 4th 2014, As a class we started a lab. This lab was to observe insects and learn about forensics entomology. We placed a pig shoulder outside in front of the school along the Blackstone river and observed its changes throughout the upcoming weeks. The main purpose of this experiment was to collect and examine decomposition and the insects that would be collected within the following weeks.
    The first day the pig shoulder was placed outside it simply looked like a piece of meat. The area around the shoulder was surrounded by shrubbery and under shady trees. The shoulder was fresh when first placed outside but over time it slowly began to decompose. On day two of the lab which was two days later the shoulder began to start showing signs of decomposing, it was leathery looking and dried up the temperature around the shoulder was 73 degrees Fahrenheit while the shoulder was 23 degrees Celsius. The twelfth of September the shoulder had began to shrink it was blueish-green, it was the day with the most change present. It had a temperature of 22 degree Celsius. Three days later when the class went to observe the shoulder it had a strong decaying smell and it had turned black. On the last day of the observation the shoulder was completely black and had large mummy looking holes.
      Right when the shoulder was placed outside immediately flies became present, which we all knew would soon lay eggs on the open wounds of the shoulder that we made using scissors. Two days later there were flies, wasps, maggots, inside small larvae, hairy maggot blowflies, green body fly and also sheep blowfly. at this point in the lab the shoulder had been outside for 48 hours. On the coldest day of the experiment there was a rat near the shoulder and that day we collected maggots that were eating at the open wounds of the pig. The upcoming day we also collected more maggots which were in their 2nd larvae stage. Lastly on the 17th their were mainly maggots present eating at the left over meat still left over but also all around the shoulder on the surrounding dirt. Flies were present and maggots where inside the shoulder as well as outside too. The maggots where collected and soon observed.
      In the Entomology lab it thought us that bugs are important to a case and play a major role. They help solve the mystery of when was the victim killed and how long the body was their for. Although things like weather, clothing and the are play a major roll in these issues. All flies follow the same life cycle and that's what leads Entomologist to solve the time of death using their cycle of life.