Rock painting reveals unknown bat
The team thinks the rock art from Australia's Kimberley region could date to the height of the last Ice Age - about 20-25,000 years ago.
The painting depicts eight roosting fruit bats - also called flying foxes.
They have features that do not match any Australian bats alive today, suggesting the art depicts a species that is now extinct.
The findings have been published online in the scholarly journal Antiquity.
The bats would not have lived in the same cave as the painting; they are depicted hanging on a vine, which indicates a lowland forest habitat.
Jack Pettigrew, from the University of Queensland, and colleagues report that the eight bats in the painting have white markings on their faces.
No present day Australian flying foxes possess these features...
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The painting depicts eight roosting fruit bats - also called flying foxes.
They have features that do not match any Australian bats alive today, suggesting the art depicts a species that is now extinct.
The findings have been published online in the scholarly journal Antiquity.
The bats would not have lived in the same cave as the painting; they are depicted hanging on a vine, which indicates a lowland forest habitat.
Jack Pettigrew, from the University of Queensland, and colleagues report that the eight bats in the painting have white markings on their faces.
No present day Australian flying foxes possess these features...