1. The importance of the animals in the Paleolithic and Neolithic art is very big. The importance can be seen in the fact that the humans have been depicting the animals because they were part of their daily lives, be it in a positive or negative manner. The animals that have been included int he art are animals from which the humans depended for food, but also animals that have been deeply respected and feared, with maybe even spiritual motives in the background about some them.
2. The relationship of the hunter-artist with the environment is personal. The hunter-artist has been depicting what he/she was seeing, experiencing, using, fearing, respecting, on daily basis. The environment was the one that provided life, but it was also the one that was able to end it very easily, so the hunter-artist was focusing on both ways in a simplified manner, by using the both ends of the spectrum of it.
3. The hunter-artists used the geography and the fauna as the basis for the art. The reason for this lies primarily because those were the things that the hunter-artists was dependent on, and those were the things that were known, with which there was constant interaction on a daily basis. The hunter-artist was practically depicting the basis of his/hers life, by using the geography and the fauna as the basic motifs for the art.
4. There are several theories that are out there about the popularity of the animals in the Paleolithic art, some of which are better accepted than others. One of the theories is that the hunter-artist was simply expressing through art what he/she was experiencing on a daily basis. Another one is that the art was used for teaching the youngsters about the animals, which are good for hunting, and which are to be avoided because they are dangerous. There's even a theory that suggests that the art was made so that if other hunters came, they will see it and be aware of what kind of animals live in that area.
