Shocking Discovery: Dozens Of Baby Crocodiles Stuffed Inside The Ancient Mummified Crocodile

Officials from the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands, were surprised to know that the ancient mummified Nile crocodile that was on display since 1828 was stuffed with 47 baby crocodiles. They were also mummified and wrapped individually inside the large mummified crocodile.

New scans reveal 47 mummified crocodile hatchlings in a 10-foot-long crocodile mummy https://t.co/SgQfBjG5Rk pic.twitter.com/L9Y327DN2l

— Archaeology Magazine (@archaeologymag) November 19, 2016

The officials knew this shocking discovery, after more than decades. The findings were revealed using advanced 3-D scans. The museum officials stated that when they started they really were not expecting new discoveries in this project the mummy was already scanned that are detected with high-tech 3D scans and interactive visualization as many baby crocodiles was a big surprise, even scientifically, as reported by Science Alert.

2,500-Year-Old #Mummified #Crocodile Yields Surprises - https://t.co/hCWYp2tbwD pic.twitter.com/mUM3K7LMvV — ancient-origins (@ancientorigins) November 18, 2016

In the previous scanning in 1990, it showed that the 10-foot-long specimen was stuffed with two smaller adolescent crocodiles that were wrapped and mummified, too. The scanner failed to detect the 47 other baby crocodiles.

Laura Weiss, a curator at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden said that the 2,500-year-old specimen was likely a sacrifice to the crocodile god Sobek. She further said that the ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. This could explain the sacrifice and mummification of both baby and adolescent crocodiles.

The mummifying of numerous crocodiles as an offering to the gods was a ritual before. In British Museum in London, one crocodile was mummified after death with 20 hatchlings. It is said to be worshiped in life as a living incarnation of Sobek. There are other two more mummified crocodiles that were being studied at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology in California, according to National Geographic.