By: Cave Spelunking
When you first enter a dark and dank cave, it would be easy to think of it as devoid of life. It isn't. Dark, dank caves are places that many creepy-crawly creatures call home, sweet home.
You might expect to see bats hanging (pun intended) around inside a cave but you probably wouldn't expect there to be such an abundance of life.
Scientists study the insects in a cave with great interest. The environment of a cave changes as you descend into the earth. There are three major cave "zones": the entrance zone, the twilight zone, and the dark zone.
Different creatures live in each cave zone. Over millions of years, creatures have evolved that are perfectly suited to not only live, but thrive in caves. The cave zones are distinguished by the amount of sunlight each has. The entrance zone has a lot of light. The twilight zone has much less light, and the dark zone has no light at all.
In the entrance zone of a cave, the creatures and insects that live there can all live either inside the cave or outside the cave. They usually come and go from the cave. Some creatures that live in the twilight zone of the cave can also come and go, but they almost all leave the cave only at night. Those that live deep in the dark zone of the cave never leave the cave. They have evolved to the point that sunlight would be fatal to them. They don't have pigment, and they're blind.
Scientists see caves as "evolution in a bottle," so to speak. There are species of the same insect family that live in each zone of the cave. Each species has developed characteristics that have made life in different levels of the cave possible.
Rock On & Keep Spelunking...
Cave Spelunking.
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