This text is about the beauty of caves, twisting tunnels and animals that live in THEM.

Stephen Alvarez is a professional caver. He HAS visited and explored a lot of caves, even the longest one,
Mammoth Cave in the USA which has 580 kilometers of tunnels.

Alvarez AGREES that caves are dangerous, but only if you don’t know what you are doing. It’s very
important to stay safe, that’s why Alvarez goes into caves with other cavers and never by himself. Caver
team MEMBERS can look out for one another. You should be well equipped: A helmet, knee pads, gloves,
headlamps and extra torches.

There are fantastic shapes in caves, for example stalactites and stalagmites. Stalactites are formed when
rainwater drips onto limestone, they HANG down. Stalagmites GROW upwards from the cave floor.

A lot of animals live in caves. Many of them have no eyes because of the darkness. They can catch their
food without ever seeing the victim. Examples of caves animals are: blind crayfish (live up to 175 years),
spiders, eyeless fish. They have a highly sense of hearing, touch and smell.

Caves need to be protected. WATER POLLUTION IS ONE OF THE CAVES THREATS, HUMAN VISITORS CAN
ALSO DO HARM.

I like the motto of cavers which says: “Take nothing but pictures, Leave nothing but footprints, kill
nothing but time”