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.



Australian Scientists Discover Bigger Species of Deadly Funnel Web Spiders

A new species of Funnel Web Spider named Atrax christenseni and nicknamed 'Big Boy' is pictured next to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider in a container at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stefica Nicol Bikes
A new species of Funnel Web Spider named Atrax christenseni and nicknamed 'Big Boy' is pictured next to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider in a container at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stefica Nicol Bikes
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Australian Scientists Discover Bigger Species of Deadly Funnel Web Spiders

A new species of Funnel Web Spider named Atrax christenseni and nicknamed 'Big Boy' is pictured next to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider in a container at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stefica Nicol Bikes
A new species of Funnel Web Spider named Atrax christenseni and nicknamed 'Big Boy' is pictured next to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider in a container at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stefica Nicol Bikes

Australian scientists have discovered a bigger, more venomous species of the Sydney funnel-web spider, one of the world's deadliest.
The new funnel-web species has earned the nickname "Big Boy" and was first discovered in the early 2000s near Newcastle, 170 km (105 miles) north of Sydney, by Kane Christensen, a spider enthusiast and former head of spiders at the Australian Reptile Park.
"This particular spider is a lot larger, its venom glands are a lot larger and its fangs are a lot longer," Reuters quoted him as saying.
In research released on Monday, scientists from the Australian Museum, Flinders University and Germany's Leibniz Institute said the "Big Boy" would be classified as a separate species of funnel-web spider.
Scientists have named the 9-centimeter (3.54 inches) long species as Atrax christenseni, after Christensen's contributions to the research. The more common Sydney funnel-webs can grow up to 5 cm.
The nocturnal black arachnids are usually spotted within around 150 km (93 miles) of Sydney, Australia's largest city, and are mostly active between November and April.
Only the male Sydney funnel-web, which carries a much stronger venom, is responsible for human deaths. A total of 13 deaths have been recorded though no human fatalities have occurred since the development of antivenom in the 1980s, according to the Australian Museum.
The same antivenom is effective in treating bites from "Big Boy,” scientists said.
"Sometimes you might find them in a garage or in a bedroom or somewhere in the house where they might have wandered in during the night," Christensen said of the new species.
"I would not recommend touching them that's for sure, they do give copious amounts of venom."