Nazca Lines: Huge cat geoglyph discovered in Peru

Video caption, 2000-year-old giant cat uncovered in Peru

A giant cat drawing on a hill?

This is called a geoglyph and it's recently been uncovered on the hills close to the Nazca lines in Peru.

A geoglyph is a large drawing or design that is created by moving objects on a large landscape, to form a huge drawing or symbol.

This particular geoglyph is a gigantic cat. It measures at 37 metres long, and the lines are 10 inches wide!

The enormous feline was found when workers were improving an access point for visitors to look out onto the hills.

Image source, Reuters

How long has it been there?

The figure is actually older than some of the other geoglyphs in the area. It was discovered by a drone exploration covering the land.

It's estimated that the huge cat is over 2000 years old and is made up of groves carved into the mountain as well as moving stones to make up the drawings.

Because it's been there so long, and it's on a steep hill, natural erosion had made the geoglyph difficult to find. Archaeologists worked very hard to make it easily visible to visitors.

What are the Nazca lines?

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, The Nazca Lines, known as geoglyphs, were made from around 2,500 years ago up to 600AD. This spider is one of the most famous, along with a hummingbird and a whale. No-one knows why the art was drawn but they seem to be positioned along pathways through the deserts of Peru.

The Nazca lines are a collection of geoglyphs. They are located south of Peru's capital Lima on the coastal plain.

They were created by the Nazca and Palpa cultures between 500BC and 600AD. They include depictions of animals, strange creatures and human like figures. They are thought to be for ritual and religious purposes.

Many of the geoglyphs are depictions of animals, some of these animals are depictions of rain or water.

Experts have noted that this could have been part of a ritual to bring in rain, as they are huge drawings pointed towards the sky.