PREHISTORIC wall paintings uncovered deep inside the Amazon rainforest depict animal-human hybrids and alien-like creatures.

Instead of pointing to the existence of paranormal beings, researchers believe the eyebrow-raising drawings highlight how ancient Amazonians “made sense of their world”.

The Colombian Amazon contains some of the “richest” collections of rock art in the world, according to a new study from the University of Exeter, in collaboration with other schools.

This slate, from the rock walls of Cerro Azul, is thought to have been drawn as far back as 10,500 BC.

However, the art is yet to be formally dated.

The pictures show depictions of deer, birds, lizards, turtles, tapir, and other animals, in red ochre pigments.

Though some of the animals have human features, like penises, and are stood on their hind legs with arms outstretched in human form.

“Penises, which are frequently depicted on human figures, are all but absent from animal figures,” researchers noted in their study.

“However, the only examples of penises on animal figures are on potential therianthropes that incorporate both human and animal components.”

Therianthropes refer to human-animal shapeshifters, which are common concepts in mythology and folklore.

These kinds of hybrid depictions were common across the Amazon, and particularly on the Cerro Azul hill where researchers excavated.

Images of avian-humans were found nearby at Las Dantas, as well as lizards with human-like heads at Currunchos.

Drawings of bird-plant-human hybrids and deer-humans were also discovered at Principal.

While etchings of sloth-humans were uncovered at Demoledores, and an unknown four-legged creature with a tail and penis was found at Reserva.