Ancient Animal Painting Mystery

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Live Science

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South African rock art of mystery creature 'strangely flexed like a banana' might be tusked reptile that predated dinosaurs

Summary

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74% Informative

A mysterious animal painted on a cave wall in South Africa's Free State Province has long baffled scientists.

It looks like a walrus, but there are no such animals in Africa .

Some cryptozoologists have suggested the painting might depict a sabre-toothed cat.

But new research suggests the animal depicted on the Free State cave wall is another extinct species.

It would make sense to use dicynodonts for rain-making rituals because they are extinct and, as such, belong entirely to the "realm of the dead", which shamans explored during trance states.

There's a chance that the San considered fossils to have magical potency.

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