Source: Youtube/EarthUnplugged

A gruesome but incredible time-lapse video showcases how a lizard decays and turns into a skeleton. The lizard is later eaten up by beetles and maggots until all that's left is the creature's tough skin and bones.

The decomposing lizard's video was made for more than a month in an attempt to provide an insight to the viewers abou the process of death. BBC used periodic images of the decomposing lizard capturing live shots from all angles.

The lizard in the BBC video 'Earth Unplugged' died of natural causes. It highlights details of the five stages of decomposition that starts with maggots or fly larvae hatching inside the dead creature.

Viewers will see the lizard seemed to grow in size. The microbes inside the dead lizard caused the swelling as they multiplied. The microbes eventually ruptured the lizard's skin, causing maggots to spill out the creature's corpse.

Two animal experts attempted to replicate the process of decomposition in the wild by putting fly larvae under the surface of the lizard's skin. The fly larvae set the decomposition process in motion as it feeds on dead flesh and fecal matter.

Once the dead lizard's internal part is accessible to the maggots, the stage of active decay begins. When maggots begin to consume the rotting flesh, the lizard's mass will begin to shrink.

After two weeks, the two experts were greeted with a "wall of smell" as the maggots have consumed all the lizard tissues. Experts only saw the bones and outer skin of the lizard.

At this stage of the decomposition, animal experts noted beetles will begin to feed on what's left in the corpse. They let loose larder beetles to strip away the lizard's sinew away from the bones. This decomposition process is known as "advanced decay." The remaining microbes and larder beetles will eat away until only the bones are left.

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