Surprise with things inside the cave 5.5 million years separate from the outside world

Movile is the name of a cave in Romania, a few miles west of the Black Sea. It is a truly special cave, in that for more than 5.5 million years, the cave door was closed, completely separate from the outside world.

And although the atmosphere inside the cave is filled with toxic gas and extremely humid, the cave is still a great "gold mine" for the scientific community.

Cave 5.5 million years "lonely" , but "gold mine" with biologists

According to the BBC, the Movile cave was discovered by humans in 1986, when workers discovered it while surveying the area to build an atomic power plant. Since then, fewer than 100 people have visited it.

Movile cave was discovered by humans in 1986.

Today, the mouth of the cave has been sealed by local authorities, and only scientists are allowed access - of course, permission is required. In fact, there is no need to do so, because in the middle of the mouth of the cave, there is a natural fence full of sharp limestone, so ordinary people do not want to dig.

Because of being closed for millions of years, there was no air in the cave in the cave . Deep inside the cave, the amount of oxygen is only half of normal, while the concentration of CO ₂ and H ₂ S is very large. It was pitch black there, for millions of years of exposure to the sun.

But despite such a harsh environment, scientists also found up to 48 species of living there, including spiders, water scorpions, centipedes, leeches . Of which there are 33 endemic species, only only exist in this cave.

The insect was discovered in the Movile cave.

Almost all of these creatures have no eyes , no eyesight and no pigmentation on their bodies . The simple reason is that during 5.5 million years there was no light, they needed nothing to see, nor did they need to create color to protect from solar radiation. Instead, they develop long, pointed limbs with antennas that capture signals at the ends of the limbs, to increase positioning in the dark.

Almost all of these creatures have no eyes.

Scientists say the cave environment is the first ecosystem to rely on fusion bacteria . Normally, other ecosystems have to rely on photosynthesis to synthesize energy, but because there is no light in the cave, bacteria need to get energy thanks to chemical reactions.

Million years of mystery

Why do these animals enter the cave in the first place, only to be isolated from the world? That is a question not yet answered.

"The number of bacteria here has existed for more than 5 million years, but the insects do not. Why are there locked there?" - J. Colin Murrell, microbiologist from the University of East Anglia said. "Maybe they fell in there and then accidentally locked up when the limestone falls over the cave mouth."

Murrell says there are still many other mysteries hidden deep inside the Movile cave. Despite being excavated for more than 30 years, scientists still have a lot of things to look for. And maybe the cave will provide the answer to the mystery of the evolution of today's world creatures as well.