The secret of the magical cave

Somewhere in far away New Zealand there is a cave that is illuminated by a spectacularly beautiful blue light. The entire ceiling of the cave sparkles like a starry night sky. How does this happen without human contact? The magic of nature

Article: Ascher Erblich-Brifman

of: Young Galileo, issue 199 August 2020

New Zealand is island nation in the southwest Pacific. It consists of two Islands so-called big ones North Island וSouth Island, and several smaller islands.

The Maori, settlers of Polynesian origin, arrived in the New Zealand islands between the 13th and 15th centuries. They gave their land the name Aotearoa, which means "land of the elongated white cloud". The name "New Zealand", after the province of Zeeland in Holland, was given to the place by the British explorer James Cook, who arrived in the islands in 1769.

The three caves

In the North Island of New Zealand there is an area where more than 300 caves with underground rivers have been discovered over the years. These caves form a huge underground labyrinth.

Of these 300 caves, there are three most touristic caves:
Arnway Cave It was named after the Maori man who discovered it in 1910. This is the smallest and most hidden cave of the three, and unlike the other two, it has no water flow. However, it has large and impressive stalactites.

Ruakori Cave (translated from Maori: "Cave of the Dogs") is the longest of them. In this cave you can experience challenging activities such as tubing in narrow canyons, abseiling, climbing and omega, among stalactites, waterfalls and streams.

Waitomo Cave (translated from Maori: vei - water, tomo - hole) is a karst cave (explained below) large and wide, with stalactites and sentinels. You can sail it by boat, watch the interesting rock formations and the glow of the caterpillars (explanation below).

What is Crest?

Karst is a landscape formed by a long and slow process of melting hard rocks with water. It is named after an area called Karst in Slovenia, where this form of landscape is particularly common. An example ofcave crusty is a stalactite cave.

Waitomo Cave is a 12,000 year old cave. It sounds like a lot, but in geological terms it is considered young. However, the cave was created in nature inside a 35 million year old rock.

The tour of the cave is guided and includes a cruise in the underground river. During the tour, the guide explains how sentinels, stalactites and pillars are formed, and of course how the blue glow on the ceiling of the cave is formed.

Who lights the cave?

In Waitomo Cave live tiny larvae called Orchenocampa luminosa (luminous mosquitoes). They are known by the wrong name "the glow worms", but in fact they are special mosquito larvae. These larvae excel in bioluminescence - a property of producing light in biochemical processes. We know the feature of bioluminescence, for example, in fireflies.

The meaning of the term "bioluminescence" is biological light. The term is composed of the words "bio" (life) and "luminescence" (luminescence = emission of light).

The size of the larvae is the size of an average mosquito, and they are up to three centimeters long. They live permanently in a cave and shine everywhere. They are also called the mushroom mushroom. Their body is narrow and long like a noodle. Two thirds of the body is thin and mucous, and the third third is almost completely transparent. These larvae secrete thin webs that resemble spider webs up to 20 centimeters long. With the help of these webs they catch insects.

Where does the glow come from?

To attract insects to the webs, the caterpillar glows in the dark using bioluminescence. The insect is attracted to the light, flies towards it and is caught in the cold. So the caterpillar draws it to itself, kills its victim by excreting a poison and devours it for pleasure. The hungrier the caterpillar, the brighter it glows. This is a unique chemical reaction.

The larva lives in this form for about nine months: as soon as it hatches from the egg, it builds a nest and starts looking for food. When it reaches a size of 30 millimeters, it undergoes metamorphosis: a protective skin is covered and it becomes a pupa. In the next step the pupa becomes an adult mosquito. The male mosquitoes live for a few days, while the females usually die immediately after laying about 130 eggs.

Egg laying usually occurs in December, but not always. The larvae hatch from the eggs about three weeks after they are laid. These caterpillars, which are unique to New Zealand, can be found all over New Zealand, but in Waitumo Cave their concentration is the highest.

The Maori keep a secret

For years the Maori kept the knowledge of this unique cave a secret. In Maori culture, many legends tell of the first settlers who discovered the cave and marveled at its glowing ceiling.

The cave was discovered in 1887 by the local ruler Tain Tinora and his English friend Fred Mace. According to the legend, the two built a raft together from flax stalks and sailed into the cave through an underground stream. When they entered it, they were amazed to see the many caterpillars covering the ceiling of the cave and spreading a brilliant light everywhere.

They returned to the place again and again and continued to investigate it. This is how they discovered the upper opening of the cave, which today is the main entrance to it. The cave was a thriving privately owned tourist business, and in 1906 the state nationalized the place, but left the management of the cave in the hands of its previous owners.

Eshkar Erblich-Brifman is a children's and youth writer. Has published 33 books to date. The first book in the series "Winter Blue, Fairy Girl" was translated into English. Facilitates online writing workshops for children and youth. In the book "Stories with Wings" you can read more about the magical lake and its seal and many other stories. site: www.eshkar.com

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