Stager also identified the specific scent that drew vultures to carrion. The discovery arose from a serendipitous conversation with field engineers at an oil company, who had been aware for some time that turkey vultures have knowing noses, and used the birds to locate leaks in natural gas lines. The engineers had figured out that if they introduced ethyl mercaptan into the line, they could locate leaks by the concentrations of turkey vultures circling above the line or sitting on the ground next to it.
