Cave Life
As you enter a cave it is immediately obvious that green plants are no longer growing and, apart from a few spiders, there seems to be little else in there.
After a while you may notice a moth on the wall, or a fly, a different spiders web, some fungi growing on a log. And in the water a fish, and deeper in the cave as you crawl along with your nose nearer the floor you may spot a shrimp, a flatworm and other small crawling things that all seem to be white.
When you come out of the cave you may notice you can smell the outside before you can see it, and then how the plants change from simple plants like mosses to ferns then flowering plants as you leave the cave.
This website is to help cavers identify the organisms they see whilst visiting the caves of Britain, and to help them understand the relationships between these organisms. It includes life around cave entrances, temporary visitors to caves as well as the inhabitants of the dark zone. The scientific terminology has been kept to a minimum (!) to help the non specialist - there is a glossary to help with the unfamiliar words. Each region has pages written specifically for that area along with photographs taken from caves in that region.
Click here to visit the Cave Life Website