By: Cave Spelunking
Caves are dark. When you go into a cave, in the entrance zone there will be plenty of light. As you proceed into the cave, there is less light. The area is called the twilight zone. It's the area where sunlight and total darkness meet. There is still some light, but not very much. When you reach the dark zone, you have really arrived in the cave.
You couldn't live in the dark zone of a cave. Your body is not adapted to living in total darkness. You need sunlight. Even if you could adapt to living in total darkness, you'd starve to death because there are no green plants in caves. Green plants require sunlight in order to live, and there is no sunlight in the dark zone of caves. Food sources would be limited, to say the least. The lack of light would cause you to lose your sense of time.
The creatures that do live deep in the dark zone of caves have evolved over millions of years and are totally suited to live in complete darkness. The creatures that live deep in the dark zones of caves are albinos; that is, they have no skin pigment or color. The total darkness of caves makes coloring as camouflage useless. Sight isn't possible in total darkness, so all of the creatures that live deep in caves are blind.
The creatures that live out their entire lives in total darkness have developed extra sensory organs to compensate for the loss of sight and lower metabolic rates to compensate for a low food supply.
Cave biology is called biospeleology. S cientists who study cave biology care called biospeleologists. Cave organisms provide direct evidence of evolutionary changes. Evolution is, after all, the adjustment of life to a changed environment.
Rock On & Keep Spelunking...
Cave Spelunking.
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