Why did the ancients imagine those absurd animals in Shan Hai Jing?

We have reason to believe that The Classic of Mountains and Seas is a book that records the history and culture in the process of human civilization, and all the "strange" beasts recorded in it once existed in the corresponding historical period, just because all living things are drawn by the laws of "birth, residence, difference and extinction" in the historical development process, and have already become their own "history" on the earth at present. So is zoology. Many discoveries have been discovered one after another. In fact, all the exotic animals recorded in Shan Hai Jing have their prototypes. For example, the snow leopard is named Li Yu, the rhinoceros is named, the Firefox is named nine-tailed fox, the zebra is named Lu Shu, the wild boar is named Li, and so on. It is believed that with the deepening of research, more mysteries will be uncovered one after another.