5/31/2006: New species found

Undertoad · 05-31-2006, 02:21 PM

First posted on the Cellar by elspode, thanks spode!

Picture this: a team is digging in a rock quarry in the middle of Israel, drilling into a kind of chalk that's impervious to water. Maybe they're trying to figure out what's down there, what kind of resources are available in the quarry. 100 meters down, they reach a layer of... nothing.

It's a cave. And it's massive: 2.5 kilometers long, 100 meters deep. With a huge lake - expected, because the cave happened when the water eroded away limestone between layers of chalk where the water didn't erode.

And it's been completely sealed off from the outside world... for ages and ages... perhaps millions of years... until the drill went through its roof.

Found so far are eight new, previously unknown species of beast, including the scorpion-like being.

Who knows how this species first got into this little, cut-off system. Perhaps there was a time, 100,000 years ago, when the cave was closer to ground and a nest of burrowing scorpions dug into the cave. But during its time there, it has gone through evolutionary changes. Since there's never been light in the cave, it's blind, and it has little to no coloration.

Maybe there are scary bacteria bacteria that can kill us! But maybe they'd be killed by sunlight. Who knows, but it makes me want to be a spelunking evolutionary zoologist/bacteriologist. Or maybe not.

05-31-2006, 02:21 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	5/31/2006: New species found First posted on the Cellar by elspode, thanks spode! Picture this: a team is digging in a rock quarry in the middle of Israel, drilling into a kind of chalk that's impervious to water. Maybe they're trying to figure out what's down there, what kind of resources are available in the quarry. 100 meters down, they reach a layer of... nothing. It's a cave. And it's massive: 2.5 kilometers long, 100 meters deep. With a huge lake - expected, because the cave happened when the water eroded away limestone between layers of chalk where the water didn't erode. And it's been completely sealed off from the outside world... for ages and ages... perhaps millions of years... until the drill went through its roof. Found so far are eight new, previously unknown species of beast, including the scorpion-like being. Who knows how this species first got into this little, cut-off system. Perhaps there was a time, 100,000 years ago, when the cave was closer to ground and a nest of burrowing scorpions dug into the cave. But during its time there, it has gone through evolutionary changes. Since there's never been light in the cave, it's blind, and it has little to no coloration. Maybe there are scary bacteria bacteria that can kill us! But maybe they'd be killed by sunlight. Who knows, but it makes me want to be a spelunking evolutionary zoologist/bacteriologist. Or maybe not.

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