Mummified cat rises from tomb
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Your support makes all the difference.AFTER THREE centuries buried in an airtight brick container, the Duke of Bedford's beloved cat is to take centre stage at an exhibition of mummified animals next week.
Experts believe the cat, discovered in the foundations of Woburn Abbey, is the best preserved example they have seen.
Tradition once decreed that good rat catchers were buried in foundations to protect the house after their death.
The cat was so well preserved in an airtight brick container - free from humidity, predators and bacteria - that even his whiskers are still intact. Originally discovered in 1915 by workers demolishing an outhouse, the duke's cat will go on show for the first time from Monday in an exhibition at the National History Museum's Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire.
It is one of many mummified creatures including a baboon, a crocodile and birds of prey which will go on display. The museum will also display an array of Egyptian mummified animals and explore the reasons why the ancient civilisation practised such an art.
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