Caves are home to many animals. It provides a safe, hidden, stable and suitable environment for animals. Even our ancestors lived in caves. Let's delve into a labyrinth of caves where there is endless darkness and completely different life.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > caves and cave animals</h1>
Caves are a natural underground space. According to the behavioral characteristics of different animals, cave animals can be divided into three categories: "(trogo lophiles) cave-loving creatures" are animals that sometimes live in caves and also move out of caves. For example, some crickets, beetles, rodents, etc. are often active in natural caves; another is called "trogloxenes", which live in caves most of the time, but for a certain period of time, they have to venture out of the cave, such as some cave-dwelling bats or swallows;
The third is a lifelong lifelong dwelling in caves, called "troglobites" (true cave creatures). These animals evolved to adapt to the cave environment. At present, the real cave creatures found include mollusks, clawed animals, spiders, polypods, crustaceans, insects, fish, amphibians, snakes, etc., and there are no records of birds and mammals. Due to the lack of sunlight and organic matter, food resources are extremely scarce, and most cave animal populations are small. In addition, they are isolated from the outside world for a long time and are extremely sensitive to environmental changes. The living environment is vulnerable to destruction. In addition, there are some animals that occasionally settle or stay in caves, such as raccoons, frogs, and of course curious humans.
The different areas of the cave are characterized differently, and the entrance area is close to the cave entrance, cool and dark. This is where cave-loving animals and other animals looking for hiding places often live. Further inside was the shadow zone, which was cold and wet with only faint light. Some cave crickets and beetles live here. If you continue to go deeper, go deep into the cave, where it's dark and cold and there's almost no air flowing. There are all kinds of real cave creatures living here, which are completely different from the outside world.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > walk into the depths of the cave</h1>
Karst landforms, also known as karst landforms, originate from the Southern European Karst Plateau. The plateau is mainly distributed in Slovenia, Italy and other countries, accounting for nearly one-third of slovenia's territory. In this landform, rocks are dissolved by water during geological changes, forming caves. According to preliminary estimates, there are no less than 400 caves with a length of more than 500 meters. Many caves are complex and form a network of structures through which underground rivers often pass.
In the endless darkness, many animals have given up sight, this once very important sense, and the color of the body has become meaningless. In the materially poor caves, most of the nutrients are used to sustain life. Even so, they must reduce their activity and slow down their metabolism so that they can survive hunger for longer.
The cave salamander (Proteus anguinus) was the first cave animal to be discovered. In 1689, the Slovene Volvaz discovered this amphibian, which was brought to the surface by underground hot springs. In its natural state, it exists only in cave water on a karst plateau. It is all white and about 30 cm long. It is said to be one of the animals most resembling a "dragon". Unlike ordinary amphibians, unlike ordinary amphibians, which eventually degenerate the gills, instead, it degenerates the eyes. The newborn acalypt salamander has vision, but within 4 months, it will eventually become blind and the other senses will become more sensitive. Like many cave creatures, the cave-dwelling salamander has a very slow metabolism and is an animal that lives leisurely in its burrows. It is only active for 5 minutes a day, but it can not eat for 10 years, lay eggs only once in 12 years, and still have children at the age of 80, with a lifespan of more than 100 years.
There are currently 32 species of undercurrent fish known in the cave, most of which are small fish with a body length of only a few centimeters. Of these, the cave perch (Amblyopsis spelaea) is larger, but only about 20 cm long. It is found in cave waters in Kentucky and Indiana. The cave perch has no eyes and is afraid of light, but the sensory organs and lateral lines of the head are extremely sensitive and can feel the tiny vibrations of air or water. Due to their less activity, cave perch can survive for up to two years without eating. In September 2011, scientists gave a different answer. A species of cave fish called Phreatichthys andruzzii has been shown to have a biological clock, but their response consciousness is 47 hours a day. After 2.6 million years of dark evolution, it no longer reacts to the solar cycle due to its feeding habits.
Among them, the species Antrobia culveri was discovered in 1971. It is biologically taxonomically distinct from other species and is a separate genus. It is found only in the Rolling Rock Creek Caves in rural southeastern Tony County, USA. Its body is white and has no eyes. Its shell is transparent yellowish. It lives in water with little sand under the rocks, and its life history and breeding patterns are unclear. It may feed on protozoa in the water. At the same time, they were found to have aggregation behavior in bat fecal deposit areas, indicating that their feeding habits may be related to bat feces. Currently, the number of such small animals is rapidly decreasing. In 1973, the number was estimated at about 15,000, but during the period 2001-2003, only one was found at the observation site. Fortunately, a small group of about 40 animals was found in the upper reaches of the region. The reason for the sharp decline is unclear, but it should be related to nearby human activity. A dedicated ecological restoration project has now been launched to try to save this species.
Another animal worth mentioning is the cave white oak silkworm (Peripatopsis alba), which is a white-bodied terrestrial animal. It is found only in Weinberg Cave and Bat Cave in Table Mountain, South Africa. Each part of the ctenophore has a cylindrical "leg". Although it is actually a protrusion of the body, it has claws at the ends. It can be seen as an intermediate link in the evolution from worms such as earthworms to arthropods. Its size has not changed much over hundreds of millions of years. In order to ensure the survival of its offspring, it lays eggs like other ctenophores, but the pregnancy period is extended by 12-13 months, and each female can only lay 20 offspring per year. After 9 to 11 months, sexual maturity is 6 to 7 years. Since they survived less than 24 hours after leaving the cave, their distribution and diffusion were greatly limited, forming two separate systems, and their extant number was very small.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > deep into the lava cave</h1>
Lava caves, also known as lava tunnels. When the volcano erupts, magma flows down from the summit, burying everything. At this time, the surface of the lava exposed to the air will gradually cool and harden into stone. When the lava flows away, it leaves a hollow pipe, the lava cave. After tens of thousands of years of variation, these pipes will also produce unique organisms. In 1960, this new ecosystem was discovered in a lava cave in Hawaii. Ecosystems are now found all over the world, with The Hawaiian lava caves being the largest and most thoroughly studied.
The water in hawaii's lava cave ecosystem comes from seepage from the top, and the main source of energy is the roots of trees that have fallen off the rock walls, especially the roots of Metrosideros polymorpha. Polyform core wood is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is widely distributed from lowlands to plateaus, from early land to rainforest. Its posture is also diverse. It can be a low shrub or grow into a towering tree tens of meters high.
The Kazumura Lava Cave in Hawaii is the longest lava cave in the world, with a total length of 65.5 kilometers. In the primary food chain of this cave, the entire food chain starts with arthropods starting with primary consumers and the apex is a tarantula. Tarantulas are among the most prominent spiders in the world. It is also known as the Bigeye Spider. It does not weave nets, is a hunting expert, and has agile skills. These vision-dependent spiders seem unable to adapt to the extreme darkness of their caves. However, the "little-eyed" tarantula, the Lycosa howarthi, lives here.
The researchers even found a two-centimeter-long " eyeless " tarantula , the blind tarantula ( Adelocosa anops ) , which completely abandoned the spider's proud vision and instead enhanced other senses to adapt to the cave environment. There are only 6 known species of spiders, and the total number of spiders recorded is less than 30.
Lava caves exist not only on land, but also extend into the water. The Corona lava cave on Lanzarote in the Spanish Canary Islands is 6,100 meters long, but its submerged immersion part is 1,618 meters long, ranking first in the world. As of 2019, 77 species of aquatic animals have been found here, of which 37 are unique. In this ecosystem, the top predator is a Speleonectes atlartti that resembles a centipede but is actually an eyeless shrimp.
It resembles a human spine, and with the help of a large number of sensing hairs and long antennae, it can easily perceive the condition of the cave. It has powerful appendages and sharp venom on its head that can be used to hunt and capture other cave creatures twice as long as it does. In addition, it filters and absorbs the main particles in the water. In other words, they developed the barren food resources in the water to the maximum. In addition, its relative Speleonectes ondinae also lives here. These ancient animals have barely evolved for hundreds of millions of years, providing a valuable resource for evolutionary research.
The cave has a stable environment and preserves many ancient animals, leaving us with precious species and genetic resources. At the same time, it has also become an excellent sample for the study of the evolutionary environment. With further research into cave biology, there may be more surprises waiting for us.