# Amelia Earhart ....80 years later dogs can find bone residue ?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892 "2017-07-10T04:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/1 "2017-07-10T04:14:03Z")
[80 years later Amelia Earhart death spot might be found](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/forensic-dogs-amelia-earhart-spot-where-died/) Even though this is National Geographic the Bullshit-O-Meter runs high for me, but I know zero about these type of things and would like to be educated a bit. 80 years, really ? What say the collective wisdom of the SDMB ? ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/2 "2017-07-10T15:38:45Z")
I had the same reaction. Haven’t seen the Earhart documentary but the one thing about cadaver sniffing dogs finding a scent from 80 years ago struck me as patently unbelievable. This piece says 30 years is realistic: [Etan Patz search renewed: Can cadaver dogs smell 30-year-old corpses?](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/04/etan_patz_search_renewed_can_cadaver_dogs_smell_30_year_old_corpses_.html) Still hard to believe, but even if that’s true, 80 years is almost three times as long. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/3 "2017-07-10T16:42:04Z")
The joke I saw making the rounds concerns the article’s use of the odd term “bone-sniffing” dogs. “You mean, just dogs, right?” ---
**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/4 "2017-07-10T19:17:53Z")
Bone-sniffing dogs, going by this article (a very bad one as no date or references) states that a dog found 600 year old bones: [http://history-talk.com/article/archaeology-s-new-tool-bone-sniffing-dogs](http://history-talk.com/article/archaeology-s-new-tool-bone-sniffing-dogs) Also, this article pre-dates the Amelia documentary it seems. Doesn’t surprise me at all though. Everything has a scent so just train the dogs for bones versus cadaver or what have you. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/5 "2017-07-11T00:56:02Z")
> [@electronbee](#): > > Doesn’t surprise me at all though. Everything has a scent so just train the dogs for bones versus cadaver or what have you. The guideline I always hear touted is “dogs sense of smell is as powerful as our ability to see.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/6 "2017-07-11T01:21:00Z")
You can take dogs to graveyards to train them to locate old human bones. 80 years seems like a long time though. And they didn’t find bones, according to the article in the OP all they did was take soil samples for DNA testing. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/7 "2017-07-11T02:21:21Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > Even though this is National Geographic the Bullshit-O-Meter … Remember that _National Geographic_ is now owned by Rupert Murdoch. The credibility of that magazine is lower, and will probably continue to sink. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/8 "2017-07-12T14:34:25Z")
Incidentally the [photo](https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/83_JaluitPhoto/83_JaluitPhoto.html)mentioned in that article has just recently been debunked - it was published in 1935, before Earhart went missing. See here: [Blogger discredits claim Amelia Earhart was taken prisoner by Japan | Amelia Earhart | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amelia-earhart-80-years-later-dogs-can-find-bone-residue/790892/9 "2017-07-12T14:56:56Z")
There’s another thread about the photo. There’s no call for hyping these highly speculative ‘discoveries’ before a thorough examination, and so far nothing has been proven conclusive. This whole thing has moved into Bermuda Triangle territory.