By examining the elephant's stomach contents, pictured here, botanist Elena Marinova of Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven was able to determine the animal's last meal: wheat chaff, acacia twigs, and river plants from the papyrus family.

Because these plants grow in different locations--fields, desert, marsh--"there can be no doubt he was being fed" in captivity, archaeologist Renee Friedman said.

Researchers also found a baby hippo and a wildcat with severe bone breaks, which had healed--an unlikely outcome without human protection.