<p><strong>Wrapped in linen, this so-called sacred ibis—a hatchling housed at Montreal's <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a>—provided some of the first evidence that ancient <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/egypt-guide/">Egyptians</a> sent animal mummies on their final journeys fully fed, a new study says.</strong></p><p>CT scans of the 2,500-year-old <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/">bird</a>, one of four specimens used in the study, show that its body was packed with grains after death to sustain it in its afterlife mission as a messenger to the gods, according to findings <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440312000155">published January 13 in the <em>Journal of Archaeological Science</em></a><em>.</em></p><p>"The ancient Egyptians intended to send this ibis to eternity with a full belly," the study team writes.</p><p>(Also see <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0915_040915_petmummies.html">"Egyptian Animals Were Mummified Same Way as Humans."</a>)</p><p><em>—James Owen</em></p>

Artfully Enrobed

Wrapped in linen, this so-called sacred ibis—a hatchling housed at Montreal's McGill University—provided some of the first evidence that ancient Egyptians sent animal mummies on their final journeys fully fed, a new study says.

CT scans of the 2,500-year-old bird, one of four specimens used in the study, show that its body was packed with grains after death to sustain it in its afterlife mission as a messenger to the gods, according to findings published January 13 in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

"The ancient Egyptians intended to send this ibis to eternity with a full belly," the study team writes.

(Also see "Egyptian Animals Were Mummified Same Way as Humans.")

—James Owen

Photograph courtesy Andrew Nelson, University of Western Ontario

Pictures: Bird Mummies "Fed" After Death, Stuffed With Snails

Some of the millions of ancient Egyptian ibis mummies were "fed" after death, scans reveal—the better to live through the afterlife.

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