After watching this weeks' episode of Human Planet on the BBC, I was intrigued to see the discussion of a practice known as "sky burial", as mentioned in our earlier post. In the mountains of Nepal, the high altitudes prevent Buddhists from practicing their usual method of body disposal (cremation) and so alternative methods are sought.

The deceased is taken to a remote part of the mountains and a ritual is performed by a specialist, whereby the remains are offered to vultures. You can see the BBC programme here if you have a UK-based IP address and check it out before 10th March 2011 - sky burial appears toward the end of the show.