Photo/Illutration At least 330 coins and pebbles were found in the stomach of a dead American alligator named Mippy. (Provided by the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens)

NAGOYA--An autopsy on an American alligator that apparently died of old age at a Nagoya zoo in May yielded a somewhat unusual trove: more than 330 coins and arcade tokens in its stomach.

The items were seemingly thrown into the pond of the alligator enclosure at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in the city’s Chikusa Ward for good luck.

According to zoo officials, the veterinarian performing the autopsy found 100-yen coins and smaller denominations such as corroded aluminum 1-yen coins and arcade tokens.

Mippy's death was not directly related to the coins it had swallowed, officials added.

Alligators are known to swallow pebbles and other objects to mash up the huge chunks of meat they ingest as a way to help digestion, so it is not unusual to find foreign objects in the reptiles' stomachs.

Zoo officials put up a sign more than five years ago to urge visitors not to throw coins into the alligator pond.

Mippy arrived at the zoo in 1965 and was estimated to be at least 54 years old when it died, a grand age for such beasts.

“Visitors might have thrown coins feeling as if it was a pond in a sightseeing destination or because they wanted to see how alligators react when their environment is disturbed,” an official said. “We want visitors to enjoy watching alligators just the way they are and refrain from giving them anything artificial.”