Given that baboons we associated with the ancient Egyptian gods of Thoth and Babi, you would guess that captive baboons in ancient Egypt lived like a pharaoh or at least a prince.
Yet a new study of baboon remains mummified 2500 to 2800 years ago at a sacred animal necropolis near Luxor, Egypt published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests otherwise.
Out of 36 baboon skeletons analyzed (including skulls pictured above), researchers found all but four of them showed evidence of metabolic diseases and deformed bones, typical of conditions such as rickets that stem from vitamin D deficiency.
The study suggests that the apes’ captors fed them an unbalanced diet and kept them indoors all the time without sunlight—possibly to prevent them from escaping. This was no isolated incident: Baboon remains mummified elsewhere in Egypt around the same time carry similar bone deformations, the study researchers say.
Animal rights is a relatively new concept. And still hundreds of millions of farms animals are still being kept in tiny cages.
Related: Turks try to revive Thoth – the Syrian bald ibis. According to local legend in the Birecik area of Turkey, the northern bald ibis was one of the first birds that Noah released from the Ark as a symbol of fertility.
