“Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common funerary practice in Tibet wherein a human corpse is cut in specific locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhuta and animals – especially to birds of prey. The location of the sky burial preparation and place of execution are understood in the Vajrayana traditions as charnel grounds. In Tibet the practice is known as jhator, which literally means, «giving alms to the birds»”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A burial master chops bones of a body to feed vultures during a celestial burial ceremony on April 19, 2006 in Dari County of Guoluo Prefecture, Qinghai Province, northwest China. Celestial burial is a traditional funeral of Tibetan people, which began in the 7th century. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

A rooster bred for its all black appearance walks through the yard of a small backyard farm on February 3, 2017 on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia. The roosters, called Ayam Cemani, are completely black including their bones and meat and are often sold for use in rituals. (Photo by Ed Wray/Getty Images)

Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee has created a series (Homo Animatus) of works featuring skeletal representations of familiar cartoon characters. He uses resin, aluminum sticks, stainless steel wires, springs, and oil paint. If you look closely, you will see the bones of our favorite childhood friends like Canis Latrans Animatus (Wile E. Coyote), Geococcyx Animatus (Roadrunner), Lepus Animatus (Bugs Bunny), Felis Catus Animatus (Tom), Mus Animatus (Jerry), Anas Animatus (Donald Duck) and his three nephews, Animatus H, D and L ( Huey, Dewey and Louie)

Kahuna, an injured loggerhead turtle, returns to the ocean after years of rehabilitation. It has been two years since Kahuna, a 209-pond loggerhead turtle, was rescued from the wild by biologists at FPL’s St. Lucie Power. Half of one of her flippers had been sliced off, and the other flipper was badly injured. On top of that, she had severe bone infection doctors tried for months to cure with antibiotics, only to have it come back once they stopped the medicine.

Photo: Kahuna is kept calm and steady on the gurney by staff and volunteers.

Doctor Boaz Zissu of the Bar Ilan University shows the inscription on a 2,000-year-old ossuary at the Rockefeller Museum on June 30, 2011 in Jerusalem, Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority have confirmed the credibility of the ancient ossuary, otherwise known as a stone chest in which to store bones, as bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas from the New Testament. Laboratory tests have come back saying that the inscription with the name of “Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri” is both “genuine and ancient”. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Rick Kelly, owner of Carmine Street Guitars, poses for a picture at his shop in New York City, U.S., July 21, 2016. Kelly builds custom guitars from the “bones of New York”, using reclaimed lumber from historic New York buildings. (Photo by Joe Penney/Reuters)

Miles Van Rensselaer using everything from glass and crystal to bronze and iron, from gold and silver to tooth and bone, from steel, copper and lead to wood, clay, feather and hair. He has been fortunate enough to work – and humbled by working – with and among talented artists from all over the world. His work is his homage to these people and their vanishing ways of life, his translation of their technique, imagery, idea of “primitive” art into modern Western materials.