Strange Beasts in Poison Cave
March 17, 2017 8:46 AM Subscribe
Holy hell! Despite the not terribly helpful title. And link text. This is really fascinating. It's like a bubble of an entirely alien ecosystem completely cut off from the outside world, including its energy inputs. Just amazing.
posted by Naberius at 9:07 AM on March 17, 2017
posted by Naberius at 9:07 AM on March 17, 2017
(Warning for arachnophobes: link goes straight to a huge photo of a spider. The spider is fascinating. But still a spider)
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:10 AM on March 17, 2017
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:10 AM on March 17, 2017
Pshaw! Peter Watts would have written it so that everything was horribly, horribly sentient.
Seriously though, thanks. That was really, really, neat.
posted by LegallyBread at 9:10 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Seriously though, thanks. That was really, really, neat.
posted by LegallyBread at 9:10 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Weeeird. But so cool. I wouldn't touch anything that came out, but I'm glad there are people brave enough to climb into holes and poke things with sticks for us.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 9:17 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 9:17 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
A 2008 study of Movile's only snail suggested that it has been down there for just over 2 million years. When it entered the cave, the ice age was just beginning, and the snail may have escaped the cold by going underground.
I first read that as if there were a single 2-million-year-old snail in the cave, rather than a single species as noted in the linked abstract, and was quite impressed at its longevity.
posted by sysinfo at 9:24 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I first read that as if there were a single 2-million-year-old snail in the cave, rather than a single species as noted in the linked abstract, and was quite impressed at its longevity.
posted by sysinfo at 9:24 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
It's like a bubble of an entirely alien ecosystem completely cut off from the outside world, including its energy inputs.
Well, not entirely alien:
And there are more weird underground lakes, full of unique life: Ayalon Cave, discovered near Ramla, Israel, where at least eight new species were found, and a series of subterranean water, caves and micro-caverns discovered in Australia, where more than 850 new species were recorded.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:29 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Well, not entirely alien:
"Methanotrophs are everywhere: the Roman Baths at Bath, the surface of seawater, the mouths of cattle and probably the human mouth and gut," says Boden. "Autotrophic bacteria of the same types we found at Movile are found in almost all soils and on the surface of the skin."More information: Wikipedia article on Methanotrophs
And there are more weird underground lakes, full of unique life: Ayalon Cave, discovered near Ramla, Israel, where at least eight new species were found, and a series of subterranean water, caves and micro-caverns discovered in Australia, where more than 850 new species were recorded.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:29 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
The bacteria's ability to oxidise methane and carbon dioxide is of particular interest. These two greenhouse gases are the biggest culprits for global warming, so researchers are desperate to find efficient ways to remove them from the atmosphere.
This sort of thing never goes well in movies.
posted by Artw at 9:38 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
This sort of thing never goes well in movies.
posted by Artw at 9:38 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's interesting that the whole food chain derives its energy from the chemosynthetic bacteria.
Since the whole system seems to have been completely sealed off, I wonder how they can prevent contamination coming in, even if the number of visitors is limited.
posted by Azara at 9:40 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Since the whole system seems to have been completely sealed off, I wonder how they can prevent contamination coming in, even if the number of visitors is limited.
posted by Azara at 9:40 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Fantastic beasts and where to find them.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:47 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:47 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Well, as the amount of carbon dioxide goes up in the earth's atmosphere, shouldn't the amount of autotrophic bacteria go up correspondingly? Is there any way (he asked naively) of helping that process?
posted by newdaddy at 10:55 AM on March 17, 2017
posted by newdaddy at 10:55 AM on March 17, 2017
Life finds a way. It just may not include us.
posted by Artw at 11:03 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:03 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
LegallyBread: "Pshaw! Peter Watts would have written it so that everything was horribly, horribly sentient.
Seriously though, thanks. That was really, really, neat."
Yeah, and they would all be insane from the darkness, lack of input, and the sameness of the same tiny group.
Most cool indeed.
posted by Samizdata at 11:22 AM on March 17, 2017
Seriously though, thanks. That was really, really, neat."
Yeah, and they would all be insane from the darkness, lack of input, and the sameness of the same tiny group.
Most cool indeed.
posted by Samizdata at 11:22 AM on March 17, 2017
I just put Movile Cave in last place on my list of fun vacation spots.
posted by kozad at 11:27 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by kozad at 11:27 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I clicked on that link hoping it was going to be some child's book of drawings someone ran across. But it was still good. I just happened to have watched a clip of the bug scene from King Kong (the one that was not the new one but not the old one either) last night.
posted by lagomorphius at 11:37 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by lagomorphius at 11:37 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I first read that as if there were a single 2-million-year-old snail in the cave, rather than a single species as noted in the linked abstract, and was quite impressed at its longevity.
That would be the best. Glowing green, about the size of an Airstream trailer, fourteen or so eyes on stalks, thinking utterly alien and very slow thoughts.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:07 PM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
That would be the best. Glowing green, about the size of an Airstream trailer, fourteen or so eyes on stalks, thinking utterly alien and very slow thoughts.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:07 PM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Graham Masterton wrote "The Wells of Hell", a ridiculously pulpy horror novel about this Satan-ish evil insect-y thing that's been in a hole in the ground for ever and it's waking up and being, you know, evil. Sort of like this article, but on a larger scale, and without the science and with more murder and evil. Take one of the pictures in the article and put a scale on it measured in feet, and bow before our Prehistorical Evil Insectoid Overlords! They gotta be better than the way things are now..... less lying, anyway.
posted by Zack_Replica at 1:59 PM on March 17, 2017
posted by Zack_Replica at 1:59 PM on March 17, 2017
That would be the best. Glowing green, about the size of an Airstream trailer, fourteen or so eyes on stalks, thinking utterly alien and very slow thoughts.
Isn't that where Slurm comes from?
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:11 PM on March 17, 2017
Isn't that where Slurm comes from?
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:11 PM on March 17, 2017
I have read about this place before (indeed, this very article!), and it's so fascinating the way these little bubble biospheres pop up in isolated/hostile-to-much-life corners of our profoundly weird planet. We are just drowning in aliens over here.
posted by byanyothername at 7:24 PM on March 17, 2017
posted by byanyothername at 7:24 PM on March 17, 2017
It's never occurred to me before that cave divers exploring more "normal", open cave systems could surface somewhere new and the atmosphere there could turn out to not be breathable, like on another planet.
posted by XMLicious at 12:13 PM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by XMLicious at 12:13 PM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by hank at 8:55 AM on March 17, 2017