Ancient Egyptians knew a lot about human embalming, but British researchers say their pets got identical treatment in preparation for the afterlife.
Richard Evershed and colleagues from England's University of Bristol have disproved previous beliefs that cats, birds and other animals only got a cursory post-mortem wrap, this week's journal Nature reported.
"The preserved animals are every bit as sophisticated as the human mummies," Evershed said.
While the animals didn't attain an immortal afterlife, they did make it to England to undergo chromatography, which analyzed the chemicals used on them.
Researchers examined the 2,000-year-old mummified remains of a cat, two hawks and a wading bird called an ibis, and found they were embalmed with organic substances including beeswax, sugar gum, plant oils and petroleum, just like the humans.
The analysis shows resins from conifer and pistachio trees were used, beeswax repelled water and sugar gum was probably used to paste the bandages.
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