Rotting meat is host to some of the world's most lethal toxins...and yet some animals regularly stomach the stuff without getting sick. Here's how they do it.

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Created by Henry Reich Production and Writing Team: Alex Reich, Peter Reich, Emily Elert, Ever Salazar, Kate Yoshida, and Henry Reich Music by Nathaniel Schroeder

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REFERENCES

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DeVault, T.L., Rhodes O.E., & Shivik, J.A. (2003) Scavenging by vertebrates: Behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives on an important energy transfer pathway in terrestrial ecosystems. Oikos 102: 225- 234. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1263&context=icwdm_usdanwrc

Flies, A., personal communication, 2015.

Houston, D. C. & Cooper, J. (1975) The digestive tract of the whiteback griffon vulture and its role in disease transmission among wild ungulates. Journal of Wildlife Disease 11: 306–313. http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.7589/0090-3558-11.3.306

Marín-Arroyo, A.B., Fosse, P., & Vigne, J.D. (2009) Probable evidences of bone accumulation by Pleistocene bearded vulture at the archaeological site of El Mirón Cave (Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 284–296. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440308002082

Ohishi, I., Sakaguchi, G., Riemann, H., Behymer, D., & Hurvell, B. (1979) Antibodies to Clostridium botulinum toxins in free-living birds and mammals. Journal of Wildlife Disease 15: 3–9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/459044

Roggenbuck, M., Schnell, I.B., Blom, N., Bælum, J., Bertelsen, M.F., Pontén, T.S., Sørensen, S.J., Thomas, M., Gilbert, P., Graves, G.R., & Hansen, L.H. (2014). The microbiome of New World vultures. Nature Communications 5:5498. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141125/ncomms6498/abs/ncomms6498.html

Rozen, D.E., Engelmoer, D.J.P. & Smiseth, P.T. (2008) Antimicrobial strategies in burying beetles breeding on carrion .Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: 17890-17895. http://www.pnas.org/content/105/46/17890.abstract

Selva, N., Jędrzejewska, B., Jędrzejewski, W. & Wajrak, A. (2005): Factors affecting carcass use by a guild of scavengers in European temperate woodland. Canadian Journal of Zoology 83: 1590-1601. http://zbs.bialowieza.pl/g2/pdf/1509.pdf

Von Hoermann, C., Steiger, S., Muller, J.K., & Ayasse, M. (2013) Too fresh is unattractive! The attraction of newly emerged Nicrophorus vespilloides females to odour bouquets of large cadavers at various stages of decomposition. PLoS One 8: e58524. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0058524

Video clips by Kate Yoshida.