[This talk contains graphic images] My parents always wanted me to be a doctor. But a doctor that studies how vultures eat dead things is probably not the type of doctor my parents had in mind.
【這個演講包含生動的圖像】 我的父母總是希望我成為醫生。 但是研究禿鷲吃死屍的醫生 可能不是我父母想到的那種醫生。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I study vulture scavenging behavior and how vultures affect crime scenes. I'm here to talk to you about how we take vultures for granted in forensic science. Before we do that, I want to tell you a story. So we're going to take a trip, all 1,000 of us. It's May 2014 and we're standing in a park in Nashville, Tennessee, because we've been at a horse race. As we wait for the porta potty, we see two ladies in their Sunday best: heels, pearls and lovely, floppy derby hats. At any moment, we expect them to start talking about their grandma's fine china. But they don't. Instead, we hear them say, "Oh, look. Something must be dead." We look up and to the left and see vultures circling round and round. It occurred to me at this very moment that if these ladies at the derby are aware of vulture's connection to death, then why aren't we talking more about these birds at crime scenes?
我研究禿鷲的清除行為 以及禿鷲如何影響犯罪現場。 我在這裡談我們如何把禿鷲 視為理所當然的法醫科學。 在此之前,我想告訴你一個故事。 我們所有的 1000 人要去旅行。 2014 年 5 月,我們站在 田納西州納許維爾的一個公園裡, 因為我們剛去看了賽馬。 在等待上流動廁所時, 我們看到身著星期天上教堂的 最佳衣裳的兩位女士: 高跟鞋、珍珠 和可愛的圓頂窄邊禮帽。 我們預期她們就快開始談論 她們祖母的精緻瓷器。 但她們沒談論那些。 反而我們聽到她們說: 「哦,看! 一定有東西死了。」 我們抬頭向左望, 看到禿鷲一再地盤旋。 那時我想到, 如果這些看賽馬的女士 知道禿鷲與死亡的聯繫, 那為什麼我們不多談論 出現在犯罪現場的這些鳥?
People know that vultures are connected to death. But they don't really understand how. For example, here's an email I received from a detective in Louisiana: "Lauren, there's been a kidnapping. What buzzards or vultures do we have in Louisiana?" Before we address the kidnapping, I'll first address this buzzard/vulture question I get all the time. Buzzards don't live in the United States. They are hawks that live in Europe. The big black birds you see circling in the sky within the US are vultures. The two types of vultures that live in Louisiana are the turkey vulture and black vulture. To fully understand the role of vultures in forensic science, I'll walk you through this forensic case.
人們知道禿鷲與死亡有關。 但他們並不真正了解如何有關。 例如,我收到路易斯安那州 一名偵探發來的電子郵件: 「蘿倫,有一起綁架事件。 我們在路易斯安那州 有什麼鵟鷹或禿鷲?」 在我們談論綁架事件之前 會先談談我一直會遇到的 鵟鷹/禿鷲問題。 鵟鷹不住在美國。 牠們是生活在歐洲的鷹。 你在美國天空中 看到的大黑鳥是禿鷲。 住在路易斯安那州的兩種禿鷲 是火雞禿鷲和黑禿鷲。 為了充分理解禿鷲 在法庭科學中的作用, 我會引導你走過這件法醫案子。
From the email, certain things become apparent. We can assume the detective thinks the individual is dead. And he wants to use the birds to try to find the body. Like the ladies in Nashville, the detective thinks that vultures circling in the sky will lead him to the body. It's not that simple. I don't know if you've ever seen a vulture up close or spent much time with them, but they're huge, huge. Six-foot wingspan. Vultures circle in the air because they are too big to flap their wings and fly, so they soar. They soar in thermals, which are vortexes or little tornadoes caused by pressure differences in the air that form throughout the day as the sun heats up the ground. Therefore, when you see a circling vulture, the bird is usually traveling from point A to B, rather than circling above something dead.
從電子郵件中,某些事情變得明顯。 我們可以假設 偵探認為這個人已經死了。 他想用這些鳥來尋找屍體。 就像納許維爾的女士們一樣, 偵探認為在天空中盤旋的禿鷲 會將他引向屍體。 並不是這麼簡單。 我不知道你是否曾近距離看過禿鷲, 或花長時間與牠們在一起, 但牠們非常巨大。 翼展 6 英尺。 禿鷲在空中盤旋, 因為牠們太大,以致無法拍翅飛翔, 所以牠們翱翔。 牠們在熱浪中翱翔, 這是由於太陽照射一整天 升高了地面的溫度, 造成氣壓差, 而形成的漩渦或小型龍捲風。 因此,當你看到一隻盤旋的禿鷲時, 牠通常是在從 A 點飛到 B 點, 而不是在死屍上方盤旋。
Actually, if you want to use a vulture to try to find a body, look for a vulture in a tree or on a fence post. Vultures are too big and slow to hunt. So they have to scavenge. In fact, vultures are the only animals in the world that depend upon death as a food source. The turkey vulture that you see here is super cool, because it's one of the few bird species that can actually smell. It hones in on the deceased by sensing a chemical that's coming off the body during decay. The evolutionary role of the vulture is to rid the earth of harmful toxins produced following death. Once death has been detected, the turkey vulture lands and quickly scavenges. Vultures usually remove the eyes first, then tear the skin, start pulling the tissues, and leave you with a skeleton. Therefore, the importance of vultures is not in the air, but on the ground.
其實如果你想用禿鷲尋找屍體, 要在樹上或柵欄上尋找禿鷲。 禿鷲太大、太慢,無法狩獵。 所以牠們必須當清道夫。 事實上,禿鷲是世界上唯一 依靠死屍作為食物來源的動物。 你在這裡看到的火雞禿鷲非常酷, 因為牠是少數 真正具有嗅覺的鳥類之一。 牠透過感應屍體衰變過程中 冒出的化學物質 找到死屍。 禿鷲的進化作用 是消除死屍產生的有害毒素。 一旦發現死屍, 火雞禿鷲就會降落和迅速地拾荒。 禿鷲通常先摘下眼睛, 然後撕開皮膚, 開始拉扯肌肉組織,留下骨架。 因此禿鷲的重要性 不在空中而在地面。
Vulture scavenging is somewhat gruesome. If you're ever on a bad first date, just reference this talk, and I don't think you'll have to worry about your potential suitor giving you another call.
禿鷲的清除有點可怕。 如果你的第一次約會很糟糕, 那麼請引用這個演講的話題, 我認為你不必擔心 你的潛在追求者會再打電話給你。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Although gruesome, vultures are key forensic players, and here's why. Vultures will consume a dead human just like they will consume roadkill. But you don't ever hear about that, and it's because vultures are so good at what they do. If vultures depend on death for survival and if they scavenge humans, then how can vultures be absent from forensic textbooks and training manuals? The answer: the tradition has been for researchers to exclude animal scavengers from decomposition studies by placing a cage over the decaying subject matter. Why? Because researchers were afraid an animal would run away with their subject matter and they wouldn't have any data to report -- consequently excluding animals' results in a lengthy skeletonization process, and this information is currently what detectives use during investigations.
雖然可怕,禿鷲是關鍵的參與法醫, 這是為什麼。 禿鷲會嚥下死人的屍體, 就像牠們會嚥下路上 被車輛碾死的動物屍體一樣。 但你未曾聽說過這些 乃是因為禿鷲很擅長於牠們的工作。 如果禿鷲靠死屍維生、 清除人類的屍體, 那為什麼禿鷲沒被列在 法醫教科書和培訓手冊中呢? 答案是: 傳統上研究人員 把腐爛的東西放在籠子裡, 防止清除的動物接近。 為什麼? 因為研究人員怕 動物會帶著被分析的東西跑走, 讓他們沒數據可供報告。 因此,排除動物於解剖過程外的結果 是目前偵探偵查時使用的資訊。
A lot of times at a crime scene when people see a skeletonized body, they think, "Wow, this has been here for a really long time undiscovered." Oh, no, no, no, no. Vultures accelerate decay. And the skeletonized body could have been there for as little as five days if scavenged by vultures. The failure to account for vulture scavenging can result in forensic scientists inaccurately estimating how long someone has been dead and then searching through the wrong missing person's files. Therefore, the goal is to get forensic scientists to focus on vulture evidence and to get law enforcement to consider vulture scavenging and a possible recent death when skeletal remains are found.
常常人們在犯罪現場看到骷髏時, 會想:「哇,在被發現之前 這已存在很長一段時間了。」 哦,不,不,不,不。 禿鷲加速腐爛。 如果禿鷲清除過那個屍體, 骷髏可能只在那裡短短的五天而已。 沒算上禿鷲的清除, 可能導致法醫科學家 不準確地估計某人死亡了多久, 以致搜索錯誤的失踪人員檔案。 因此,我們的目標 是讓法醫科學家專注於禿鷲證據, 並讓執法機構考慮禿鷲的清除, 來發現骨骼遺骸可能的死亡時間。
Let's get back to the importance of the kidnapping case. I responded to the detectives and told them that vultures like areas with water. They like areas with white-tailed deer, they typically arrive within the first five days following death, they're going to leave an intact spinal column and feathers. The detectives write back and say, "We found the body buried in a shallow grave. We also found the feathers you mentioned." But there appeared to be a problem because the feathers were located 40 yards from where the body was found. The feathers were next to a bloody pine cone. Vultures aren't attracted to blood, and they typically don't wander. They might wander 40 feet, but they're not going to wander 40 yards. That would be a waste of energy for a bird that doesn't know when it will get its next meal. So my first job here was to determine if vultures were at the scene. Indeed, the feather by the pine cone was consistent with the turkey vulture. So why in the world would a vulture wander 40 yards?
讓我們回到綁架案件的重要性。 我回應偵探, 告訴他們禿鷲喜歡有水的地方。 牠們喜歡有白尾鹿的地區, 牠們通常在死後的頭五天內到達, 牠們將留下完整的脊椎和羽毛。 偵探回信說: 「我們發現屍體被埋在一個淺墳裡。 我們還發現了你提到的羽毛。」 但似乎有一個問題, 因為羽毛距離 發現屍體的地方 40 碼遠。 羽毛旁邊是一個血淋淋的松果。 禿鷲不會被血吸引, 牠們通常不會漫遊。 牠們可能閒蕩 40 英尺, 但牠們不會閒蕩 40 碼。 那會浪費能量, 對於一隻不知道什麼時候 能吃下一頓飯的鳥而言。 我先得確定禿鷲是否曾出現在現場。 事實上,松果旁的羽毛 與火雞禿鷲的相同。 那怎會有隻禿鷲閒蕩 40 碼遠呢?
One of the reasons I love vultures is because they tend to operate in a manner that can be explained by biology and physics. I started mentally going through the numerous bating experiments I had conducted at a body farm in Texas. A body farm is a place where you can donate your body to science. I also went through my experiences with trapping and GPS tagging vultures. And then the year-long process of monitoring vultures via remote GPS technology. Next, I brought up my field notes and had an "Aha!" moment. I knew of two things that would lure a vulture 40 yards from a body. Guts and brain matter. I presented this information to the detectives and learned that they suspected the victim had been incapacitated by blunt force trauma to the head. The blow to the head was thought to have occurred in the area where the pine cone was found, and then the victim was drug 40 yards and buried in a shallow grave. This suggested that brain matter was the lure for the vulture and illustrates how studying vulture behavior can help piece together some of the evidence.
我愛禿鷲的原因之一 是牠們傾向的運作方式 可用生物學和物理學來解釋。 我開始在腦袋裡回想 曾在德州的大體農場 進行的無數軟化實驗。 大體農場是可將自己的大體 捐獻供科學研究的地方。 我還回想起捕捉 和幫禿鷲貼 GPS 標籤的經驗, 以及其後通過遠程 GPS 技術 監測禿鷲一年的過程。 接著我拿出田野筆記, 「啊哈」,我知道了! 我知道有兩樣東西會引誘 禿鷲離開屍體 40 碼: 膽和腦的物質。 我提供這些資訊給偵探們, 並獲悉他們懷疑受害人因為 頭部被鈍器擊傷而喪失行動的能力。 頭部被重擊 據信發生在發現松果的地區, 然後受害人被拖行 40 碼, 埋在淺土裡。 這表明腦物質誘惑了禿鷲, 並說明了研究禿鷲的行為 有助於拼湊出一些證據。
The detectives also sent me this photo. The victim's arm is sticking up out of the grave. As a forensic scientist, you have to think about the whole picture. The feather by the pine cone indicated that vultures were at the scene. This crime scene photo also depicts characteristic vulture scavenging behavior. We zoom in, we see a white down feather, which is characteristic of the turkey vulture. Also note that the skin has a cut-like tear near the wrist. The turkey vulture smells the decay, lands. It can get through the pine needles, pull out the hand, it's going to tear the skin with its beak and then start pulling the soft tissues away from the bone. Just tear and pull, tear and pull, tear and pull.
偵探們也發這張照片給我。 受害者的手臂伸出墳土外。 作為法醫科學家必須考慮整個情況。 松果旁的羽毛表明禿鷲去過現場。 這個犯罪現場照片 還描繪了禿鷲清除行為的特徵。 放大近看,能看到一支白羽毛, 這是火雞禿鷲的特徵。 也請注意,在手腕附近的皮膚 有切割般的撕裂傷。 火雞禿鷲聞到腐屍而降落著地。 牠能穿過松針, 拉出手, 用喙撕開皮膚, 然後開始拉扯骨頭上的軟組織。 就撕和拉,撕和拉,撕和拉。
This photo illustrates the scavenging efficiency of vultures. This is important because it helps support the time line the detectives are putting together for the murder. There's not a whole lot of evidence. You're not likely going to see the vultures at the crime scene. Instead, vultures just leave these very subtle clues. Rather than looking for the vulture, look for the feathers and pristine bones. Vultures are important because they are so good and fast at what they do. They're like tornadoes. If you blink, you will miss them.
這張照片說明禿鷲的清除效率。 這很重要,因為它有助於支持 偵探拼湊的謀殺時間軸。 沒有很多證據。 你太不可能在犯罪現場看到禿鷲, 反而是禿鷲只留下 這些非常微妙的線索。 不是尋找禿鷲, 而是尋找羽毛 和在原始狀態下的骨頭。 禿鷲很重要, 因為牠們做得非常好,速度也很快。 牠們就像龍捲風。 如果你眨眼就會錯過了。
I provided my opinion about the vulture evidence to the detective. And he presented the vulture evidence in court. The kidnapping case was a death penalty case. And the defendant was found guilty. This case illustrates how studying vulture behavior helps innovate forensic science. Someone who has been murdered deserves the most thorough investigation possible. When we include vultures in forensic studies, we paint a more thorough picture of what happened, when it happened and who it happened to. So, the next time you're at a crime scene with a dead body --
我提供偵探有關禿鷲證據的意見。 他將禿鷲的證據呈上法庭。 那宗綁架案是死刑案件。 被告被判有罪。 這個案例說明了研究禿鷲行為 如何幫助創新法庭科學。 有人遇害 值得進行最徹底的調查。 我們研究法醫學時把禿鷲包括在內, 能對發生的事、發生的時間 以及遭遇的人進行更全面的描述。 所以下次你處理犯罪現場的屍體時,
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
look to the ground to find the clues vultures have left. And if anyone ever brings up vultures on a date, you'll know they're a keeper.
在地面找找禿鷲留下的線索。 如果有人在約會時談起禿鷲, 你會知道他們是好對象。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)