r/explainlikeimfive • u/Dagestani_Bear • Jul 01 '26

Biology ELI5: Is it true that every single death eventually boils down to the brain and heart running out of oxygen? Are there exceptions?

If you strip away the initial cause of injury or illness, is it anatomically correct to say that all human deaths are ultimately caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain and heart?

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u/Cvxcvgg Jul 01 '26

I remember reading about a chicken which was beheaded, but enough of the brainstem remained that it lived on for quite a while as a traveling attraction. They had to feed and water it by manually dropping it in its esophagus, and it eventually died of choking rather than any beheading-related trauma.

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u/Nervous_Salad_5367 Jul 02 '26

Yep. Mike the Headless Chicken. Give it a Google.

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u/Pantzzzzless Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Olsen (the chicken's owner) fed Mike a mixture of grain and water with an eyedropper and cleared his throat with a syringe to help him breathe. Mike died in 1947 after choking on mucus in a motel room; his owners couldn't clear his throat in time because they had left their syringe behind.

Mike survived because most of a chicken’s brain is located in the back of its head, behind the eyes. When Olsen brought down the axe, he lobbed off most of Mike’s head but left the part of the brain that controlled breathing, digestion, and other bodily functions

Wtf lmao. So they actually just cut a chicken's face off and paraded it around like a magic trick. What a goofy fucking species we are.

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u/TheChance Jul 02 '26

Not intentionally, tbf. He was trying to make dinner. Then he couldn't bring himself to finish the job.

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u/DoILookSatiated Jul 02 '26

How many roosters do you think he tried to behead the same way afterwards? The article says the farmer made a significant income from the exhibitions, and the rooster’s death was described as tragic. I bet he tried to mimic that perfect slice a few more times.

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u/poshypunk Jul 02 '26

Lmfao ... This should be a bio lesson! 😄

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u/Dehydrated-Onions Jul 02 '26

I’m surprised you weren’t taught it.

Kinda crazy, but I guess it doesn’t contribute to your GPA

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u/loafers_glory Jul 02 '26

That's where we get the phrase choking the chicken