Theoretical statement: It's my general consensus that zombies are not trainable in a classic sense, but that doesn't mean they might not be useful in some regards.
The state of zombification usually results in only the most basic primal urges being recognized, namely the need to feed. Pain, higher thought processes, social interactions are all virtually non-existent after the zombification process has been completed upon death and reanimation. It is traditionally believed that zombies are incapable of these processes after their human death and resulting transformation into zombie.
Upon closer study though, there have been certain oddities noted in zombie behavior particularly on the more large-scale events. For instance, in documented cases of a horde of zombies where prey (humans) were very scattered, zombies tend to mill about in an apparently aimless manner. This has been discovered to be untrue upon closer inspection, however. If one zombie 'spots' or senses a living human they are attracted as are nearby zombies within visual/audible range. However, upon looking at the even larger picture, zombies outside of the radius of direct audible detection, those zombies began to move in the direction of the prey as well. This leads to the belief that zombies do in fact possess some rudimentary form of communication, perhaps noted in differences in the moaning or tonality of the sounds they emit. In typical large-scale zombie outbreaks prey is abudant at the beginning, so zombies spread out rapidly and attack everything in sight. After prey becomes more scarce, they slowly form into larger and larger hordes. These hordes begin to move in a more synchronized fashion as prey becomes more scarce.
It has been noted that in situations where there is a distinct lack of prey nearby, instead of milling about in a very random fashion zombies seem to congregate more toward buildings than open areas. It is undetermined if there may perhaps be an explanation in residual memory, or if the buildings themselves might pose an obstacle that stops a zombie and they cannot go around it as easily without the added motivation of detecting prey.
Zombies do seem to have different tonalities in their 'moans' that do change, primarily seeming to be mostly silent when there is nothing actively happening with only occasional moans otherwise. Upon detection of prey, there is a distinct difference, and other zombies seem to detect that difference and begin moving in that direction as well.
If these 'prey detected' sounds can be replicated, zombies could potentially be led toward areas by this sound and their primal desire alone. This has numerous tactical purposes for both zombie extermination, as well as the potential control of zombies as a weapon against other humans IF this sound would override their visual cues to humans that are nearby.
Other potential uses for zombies include using them for manual labor under very controlled circumstances. Zombies have demonstrated no need or desire to sleep, and will single-mindedly pursue the nearest source of food. A sufficiently restrained zombie could be used attached to various mechanical implements (a belt system or perhaps an attached plow or other devices) to perform some limited functions which could be applied in any number of ways to benefit humans. Supervision would be necessary, as the presence of a human (or a workable audible recording) would be required to motivate the zombie to move in a particular direction that it sensed as food. This is inherently risky, but not without merit as you could potentially employ zombie 'workers' who never stop moving or get tired or need a break to operate some simple mechanical devices by their own self-propulsion toward their 'target.'
The state of zombification usually results in only the most basic primal urges being recognized, namely the need to feed. Pain, higher thought processes, social interactions are all virtually non-existent after the zombification process has been completed upon death and reanimation. It is traditionally believed that zombies are incapable of these processes after their human death and resulting transformation into zombie.
Upon closer study though, there have been certain oddities noted in zombie behavior particularly on the more large-scale events. For instance, in documented cases of a horde of zombies where prey (humans) were very scattered, zombies tend to mill about in an apparently aimless manner. This has been discovered to be untrue upon closer inspection, however. If one zombie 'spots' or senses a living human they are attracted as are nearby zombies within visual/audible range. However, upon looking at the even larger picture, zombies outside of the radius of direct audible detection, those zombies began to move in the direction of the prey as well. This leads to the belief that zombies do in fact possess some rudimentary form of communication, perhaps noted in differences in the moaning or tonality of the sounds they emit. In typical large-scale zombie outbreaks prey is abudant at the beginning, so zombies spread out rapidly and attack everything in sight. After prey becomes more scarce, they slowly form into larger and larger hordes. These hordes begin to move in a more synchronized fashion as prey becomes more scarce.
It has been noted that in situations where there is a distinct lack of prey nearby, instead of milling about in a very random fashion zombies seem to congregate more toward buildings than open areas. It is undetermined if there may perhaps be an explanation in residual memory, or if the buildings themselves might pose an obstacle that stops a zombie and they cannot go around it as easily without the added motivation of detecting prey.
Zombies do seem to have different tonalities in their 'moans' that do change, primarily seeming to be mostly silent when there is nothing actively happening with only occasional moans otherwise. Upon detection of prey, there is a distinct difference, and other zombies seem to detect that difference and begin moving in that direction as well.
If these 'prey detected' sounds can be replicated, zombies could potentially be led toward areas by this sound and their primal desire alone. This has numerous tactical purposes for both zombie extermination, as well as the potential control of zombies as a weapon against other humans IF this sound would override their visual cues to humans that are nearby.
Other potential uses for zombies include using them for manual labor under very controlled circumstances. Zombies have demonstrated no need or desire to sleep, and will single-mindedly pursue the nearest source of food. A sufficiently restrained zombie could be used attached to various mechanical implements (a belt system or perhaps an attached plow or other devices) to perform some limited functions which could be applied in any number of ways to benefit humans. Supervision would be necessary, as the presence of a human (or a workable audible recording) would be required to motivate the zombie to move in a particular direction that it sensed as food. This is inherently risky, but not without merit as you could potentially employ zombie 'workers' who never stop moving or get tired or need a break to operate some simple mechanical devices by their own self-propulsion toward their 'target.'
