Movile Cave

Today for school we were watching science videos and stumbled upon a place called Movile Cave. Movile cave was hidden from the world for at least 5.5 million years. It was originally found by workers in communist Romania in 1986 testing the ground to see if it was suitable for a power plant. So far 48 species have been identified, 33 of which were found nowhere else in the world. In total, fewer than 100 people have been down there a number comparable to the number of people who have been on the moon. Which is not surprising considering that the cave only has about 10% oxygen whereas outside there is approximately 20% oxygen. There is a sulfur lake smelling of rotten eggs that you have to swim through to  see the rest of the cave. The creatures who live there survive on a thin, paper-like bacteria floating on the water. Though many of the creatures have been there for 5.5 million years, some came later. A study in 2008 says that the Caves only specie of Snail (viva Speedy) has been there 2 million years, meaning that it must of entered the cave around the time of the ice age. The snail probably seeking warmth found its way into the cave and has been there ever since. Oddly enough it seems that the worse the air quality gets, the more life you see. For more information go to the following article: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150904-the-bizarre-beasts-living-in-romanias-poison-cave