Vulture in the context of "Tuchulcha"

Sky burial (Tibetan: བྱ་གཏོར་, Wylie: bya gtor, lit. "bird-scattered") is a funeral practice in which a corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements, or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially crows, vultures, bears and jackals. Comparable excarnation practices are part of Zoroastrian burial rites where deceased are exposed to the elements and scavenger birds on stone structures called Dakhma. Sky burials are endemic to Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Inner Mongolia, as well as in Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of India such as Sikkim and Zanskar. The locations of preparation and sky burial are understood in the Vajrayana Buddhist traditions as charnel grounds. Few such places remain operational today, as the practice was completely banned during the Cultural Revolution as a superstitious practice; in modern times, the practice is regulated by the Chinese Communist Party due to the ongoing decline of vulture populations.

The majority of Tibetan people and many Mongols adhere to Vajrayana Buddhism, which teaches the transmigration of spirits. In this tradition there is no need to preserve the body, as it becomes an empty vessel upon death. Birds may eat it or nature may cause it to decompose. The function of the sky burial is simply to dispose of the remains in as generous a way as possible (the origin of the practice's Tibetan name). In much of Tibet and Qinghai, the ground is too hard and rocky to dig a grave, and due to the scarcity of fuel and timber, sky burials were typically more practical than the traditional Buddhist practice of cremation, which has been limited to high lamas and some other dignitaries.

Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators have keen eyesight for detecting prey from a distance or during flight, strong feet with sharp talons for grasping or killing prey, and powerful, curved beaks for tearing off flesh. Although predatory birds primarily hunt live prey, many species (such as fish eagles, vultures and condors) also scavenge and eat carrion.

Although the term "bird of prey" could theoretically be taken to include all birds that actively hunt and eat other animals, ornithologists typically use the narrower definition followed in this page, excluding many piscivorous predators such as storks, cranes, herons, gulls, skuas, penguins, and kingfishers, as well as many primarily insectivorous birds such as nightjars, frogmouths, and some passerines (e.g. shrikes); omnivorous passerine birds such as crows and ravens; and opportunistic predators from predominantly frugivorous or herbivorous ratites such as cassowaries and rheas. Some extinct predatory telluravian birds had talons similar to those of modern birds of prey, including mousebird relatives (Sandcoleidae), and Messelasturidae indicating possible common descent. Some Enantiornithes also had such talons, indicating possible convergent evolution, as enanthiornithines are not considered to be true modern birds.

Carrion (from Latin caro 'meat'), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals. Carrion may be of natural or anthropic origin (e.g. wildlife, human remains, livestock), and enters the food chain via different routes (e.g. animals dying of disease or malnutrition, predators and hunters discarding parts of their prey, collisions with automobiles).

Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eating animals include vultures, eagles, hyenas, Virginia opossum, Tasmanian devils, and coyotes. Many invertebrates, for example carrion beetles, burying beetles, blow-fly maggots, and flesh-fly maggots, also eat carrion. All of these animals, together with microbial decomposers, help to recycle nitrogen and carbon in animal remains.

Scavengers are animals that feed on dead and decaying organic matter. Often the term is used to describe the consumption of carrion, the bodies of animals that have died from causes other than predation or the bodies of animals that have been killed by other predators. However, the term is also used to describe animals that feed on rotting plant matter or refuse.

Vultures and burying beetles are examples of scavengers that feed on carrion, pink bud moth and stag beetle larvae are examples of scavengers that feed on rotting plant matter, and raccoons and squirrels are examples of scavengers that feed on refuse. Carrion-eating scavengers are called necrophages.

A dakhma (Persian: دخمه), also known as a Tower of Silence (Persian: برجِ خاموشان), is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation (that is, the exposure of human corpses to the elements for decomposition), in order to avoid contamination of the soil and other natural elements by the dead bodies. Carrion birds, usually vultures, and other scavengers, consume the flesh. Skeletal remains are gathered into a central pit where further weathering and continued breakdown occurs.

The pschent (/pskʰént/; Greek ψχέντ) was the double crown worn by rulers in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians generally referred to it as Pa-sekhemty (pꜣ-sḫm.ty), the Two Powerful Ones, from which the Greek term is derived. It combined the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt.

The Pschent represented the pharaoh's power over all of unified Egypt. It bore two animal emblems: an Egyptian cobra, known as the uraeus, ready to strike, which symbolized the Lower Egyptian goddess Wadjet; and a vulture representing the Upper Egyptian tutelary goddess Nekhbet. These were fastened to the front of the Pschent and referred to as the Two Ladies.

The uraeus (/jʊəˈriːəs/) or ouraeus (Ancient Greek: Οὐραῖος, Greek pronunciation: [οὐραῖος] ; Egyptian: jꜥrt, "rearing cobra", plural: uraei) is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt.