Turnaround time is usually very short, but sometimes the lab finds a problem. Faridah Dahlan, a geneticist, tested a sample a year ago that indicated it had come from a deer.

Airplanes do sometimes hit deer, but a phone call to the pilot confirmed that this strike was at 1,500 feet, so more investigation was required.

Eventually, the lab used a tiny piece of feather to determine that the bird was a black vulture. The bird apparently had deer flesh in its belly.