Scientists Assert 'Alien Mummies' in Peru are Really Dolls Made from Earthly Bones

An X-rays and study carried out by the Institute of Legal Medicine of Peru on the 'alien mummies' that concluded that they are dolls made with animal bones is displayed in Lima, Peru, January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda
An X-rays and study carried out by the Institute of Legal Medicine of Peru on the 'alien mummies' that concluded that they are dolls made with animal bones is displayed in Lima, Peru, January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda
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Scientists Assert 'Alien Mummies' in Peru are Really Dolls Made from Earthly Bones

An X-rays and study carried out by the Institute of Legal Medicine of Peru on the 'alien mummies' that concluded that they are dolls made with animal bones is displayed in Lima, Peru, January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda
An X-rays and study carried out by the Institute of Legal Medicine of Peru on the 'alien mummies' that concluded that they are dolls made with animal bones is displayed in Lima, Peru, January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda

A pair of "alien mummies" that mysteriously turned up at the airport in Peru's capital last October have entirely Earthly origins, according to a scientific analysis revealed on Friday.
The two small specimens were described as humanoid dolls by experts at a press conference in Lima, and likely fashioned from both human and animal parts. A separate three-fingered hand believed to be from Peru's Nazca region was also analyzed, with experts ruling out any connection to alien life, Reuters reported.
"They're not extraterrestrials. They're dolls made from animal bones from this planet joined together with modern synthetic glue," said Flavio Estrada, an archeologist with Peru's Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences.
"It's totally a made-up story," Estrada added.
The two figurines turned up in the Lima airport offices of courier DHL in a cardboard box, and were made to look like mummified bodies dressed in traditional Andean attire. Some media outlets subsequently speculated about possible alien origin.
Last September, two tiny mummified bodies with elongated heads and hands with three fingers were featured at a Mexican congressional hearing, generating widespread media coverage. Mexican journalist and UFO enthusiast Jaime Maussan claimed those bodies were about 1,000 years old and recovered from Peru in 2017, but not related to any known species.
Most experts later dismissed them as a fraud, possibly mutilated ancient human mummies combined with animal parts, but certainly from Earth.
At the Lima press conference on Friday, which was organized by Peru's culture ministry, experts did not say that the dolls found in the DHL office were related to the bodies presented in Mexico, and they stressed that the remains in Mexico are also not extraterrestrial.



Scientists Track Egret's 38-hour Flight from Australia to PNG

A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)
A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)
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Scientists Track Egret's 38-hour Flight from Australia to PNG

A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)
A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)

A species of heron has been tracked flying for almost two days non-stop between Australia and Papua New Guinea during its northern migration, scientists say.

Australian researchers used GPS to follow eight plumed egrets and 10 great egrets over a period of months, after the birds left the Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales, AFP reported.

Great egrets were found to disperse in all directions, said the scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

But the plumed egrets all migrated north, and one was tracked flying almost 2,400 kilometers (1,490 miles) over several months before settling near the town of Kalo, southeast of Port Moresby.

It took that bird 38 hours to fly more than 700km across the Coral Sea, according to findings published in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology on Monday.

It was the first time scientists had recorded the plumed egrets' migration.

Another Australian bird, the bar-tailed godwit, holds the world record for flying more than 13,500 kilometers non-stop in just 11 days during its migration south from Alaska to Tasmania.