A photo released by the Peruvian government shows the figure of a feline on a hillside in Nazca, Peru, this month. Credit – Johny Islas/Peru’s Ministry of Culture-Nasca-Palpa, via Associated Press

A Unesco World Heritage site, Nazca in Peru is home to designs on the ground called geoglyphs as old as 2,000 years. Discovered for the first time by pilots flying commercial planes over Peru in the 1930s, its full scope was uncovered by Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspes.

What’s set the cat among the pigeons was the setting up of a new path leading to a new observation platform which was a vantage point to view other geoglyphs

Said Peru’s culture ministry said: “The figure was scarcely visible and was about to disappear, because it’s situated on quite a steep slope that’s prone to the effects of natural erosion.” He added that the geoglyph, about 37m in length has been cleaned and conserved

Johny Isla, Peru’s chief archaeologist for the Nazca lines, told Efe news agency that the cat pre-dates the Nazca culture – which created most of the figures from 200 to 700 AD.

As for the cat’s age, it belongs to the late Paracas era, which was between 500 BC and 200 AD.

Now that’s one hell of an Old Cat which hid in the bushes!