<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>