IT IS not every day you stumble across a complete prehistoric ecosystem, sealed off for millions of years. Yet that is what teenager Matan Avital did after he volunteered to explore a cave discovered by quarry workers near the Israeli city of Ramle.
Animals new to science appear fairly regularly, especially invertebrates, but it is rare to discover an entire ecosystem. So far eight new species have turned up, including a blind albino shrimp (pictured, page 6) and a scorpion. 杏吧原创s from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who are exploring the cave say they expect to find more.
Pitch black, some 2.5 kilometres long and with its own lake, the Ayalon Cave, as it has been named, lies deep under a layer of impermeable chalk. The cave鈥檚 menagerie dates back around 5 million years. All the animals found so far lack eyes.
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The ecosystem is probably powered not by the sun but by chemoautotrophs that oxidise sulphur as an energy source, says Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University. Like plants on the surface, these bacteria form the base of the food chain.