Baboons

Baboons are painted and engraved more frequently than jackals, and they also feature more frequently in Bushman myth and folklore.

The /Xam believed that, like the lion, the baboon had similar powers to those of shamans.  It was supposed to draw these powers from a small stick of a plant, which it kept in its left cheek. Some depictions of baboons show a whole troop with males, females and babies.

There are also therianthropic baboons which express the closeness of baboons to people and, more important, the association between baboons and shamans.