# Gone in 40 minutes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793 "2013-05-20T05:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/1 "2013-05-20T05:54:39Z")
The corpse of a dead hiker, that is. She fell off a cliff, and within 40 minutes, griffon vultures had picked the bones clean. [Hiker falls 1,000 feet to her death, gets eaten by vultures in 40 minutes](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/hiker-falls-death-eaten-vultures-article-1.1336000#ixzz2ToFZJgLp) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/2 "2013-05-20T07:47:40Z")
A fast food place in mountain wilderness. What will they think of next? ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/3 "2013-05-20T08:56:37Z")
I know this is in bad taste to say the least, but every time I see this thread title, having read the OP, I keep picturing birds that look like Peter Griffin from Family Guy. And anyone familiar with the show will probably be willing to give me at least even odds that the thought has crossed Seth McFarland’s mind as well. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/4 "2013-05-20T15:46:10Z")
Ciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirclllllllllllllllle… circle of liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/5 "2013-05-20T15:51:29Z")
Well, that’s one way to get back up the mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/6 "2013-05-20T16:03:00Z")
I find it disturbing that they keep repeating that “they believe she was dead before the birds starting eating her”. Hopefully she was killed by the fall. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/7 "2013-05-20T16:03:44Z")
There are cultures in the Himalayas who have traditionally used this method to dispose of their dead. “Sky burial” is what they call it. From an ecological standpoint, it certainly beats pickling the body in toxic chemicals and then sealing it up in a watertight box so those toxic chemicals can’t pollute the local water supply. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/8 "2013-05-20T20:46:36Z")
If I were a mountain climber and fell off a mountain, I would approve of this method of disposal of my remains. (I would want to actually be dead first, of course.) Unfortunately, someone will probably go to great expense to recover her bones and put them in a giant metal box for burial. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/9 "2013-05-20T21:00:03Z")
If Griffon Vultures are typical of their class, they will stand by patiently and wait for the body to die before they touch it. They have a 6th sense about that, or maybe a 4th or 5th one, if they can detect changes in body temperature, or detect the first odors of a mammal’s decomposition, or the absence of conspicuous tell-tale CO2 emanations as soon as there is respiration terminates. I’m not sure how they know, but they do. The hiker was lucky. Apparently, she did not need to wait for her own death, which would no doubt have been emotionally taxing with little of value to be redeemed from the exercise. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/10 "2013-05-20T21:02:03Z")
> [@](#): > > But the way her corpse was eaten has sparked a campaign among locals who want the vulture population to be culled. Well… Stop feeding them… Too soon? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/11 "2013-05-20T21:11:14Z")
> [@](#): > > The 52-year-old’s bones, clothes and shoes were all that remained after being pounced on by the scavengers in the French/Spanish Pyrenees mountain range. They removed her shoes??? Bonus points if they folded her clothes neatly in a pile. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/12 "2013-05-20T21:30:38Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > If I were a mountain climber and fell off a mountain, I would approve of this method of disposal of my remains. (I would want to actually be dead first, of course.) First: Best Username/Post Combo In Thread, hands-down. 🆒 Second: Re: Thinking of mountain climbers in future being picked clean by birds… Wouldn’t that be malice [aforethought](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus#Hesiod)? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/13 "2013-05-20T21:36:26Z")
Not the way I would want to die (although I suspect most people die in ways that are actually worse). But given that, this is just what I would wish to have happen to my remains. That, or more generally, a green burial one way or another. **Sudden Kestrel** beat me to posting that sentiment. But I fully concur. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/14 "2013-05-20T22:34:06Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > There are cultures in the Himalayas who have traditionally used this method to dispose of their dead. “Sky burial” is what they call it. > > From an ecological standpoint, it certainly beats pickling the body in toxic chemicals and then sealing it up in a watertight box so those toxic chemicals can’t pollute the local water supply. The Parsis of Bombay do this. [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/world/asia/cultivating-vultures-to-restore-a-mumbai-ritual.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/world/asia/cultivating-vultures-to-restore-a-mumbai-ritual.html) > [@](#): > > …a centuries-old practice that seeks to protect the ancient elements — air, earth, fire and water — from being polluted by either burial or cremation. > > … > > “Most vulture aviaries have to spend huge sums to buy meat, but for us that’s free because the vultures will be feeding on human bodies — on us,” Mr. Mehta said. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/15 "2013-05-22T04:04:52Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > I know this is in bad taste to say the least, but every time I see this thread title, having read the OP, I keep picturing birds that look like Peter Griffin from Family Guy. And anyone familiar with the show will probably be willing to give me at least even odds that the thought has crossed Seth McFarland’s mind as well. Bad taste, heh. But the vultures thought her tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/16 "2013-05-22T04:35:12Z")
…and she got pooped out over the valley afterwards…2x the thrill… other articles (Huffington Post) noted that the French are prohibited nowadays from leaving farm animal carcass around, and must burn them. Gryphons are getting hungrier and have started to take live kills. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gone-in-40-minutes/658793/17 "2013-05-22T12:58:48Z")
This happened to me when I was hiking in mosquito-infested Virginia, except that it’s not over yet (it’s taken about 40 years so far).