#biospeleology

[bobcat-pie]

Olm Post

I love these wiggly eyeless noodle babies. Also known as proteus anguinus, human fish, or baby dragons, this species of neotenous salamander is found in the alps, swimming around in caves. Or more like not swimming around, because olms don’t like to move around. They can last up to ten years without eating food, and some can live up to one hundred years! They’ve also been shown to prefer sitting in crevices with the company of other olms to being alone. I want to see more olms represented. I want people to know about them

[written-nature]

A mass of limbs swooped down with wings like rags.

"Deeper" - Jeff Long

[written-nature]

Ali swept her beam across the black mirror of water. At the light's day edge, the surface seemed to bulge a few inches. It took on the sleek shape of a jet's cowl. The water made a slight hiss.

"Deeper" - Jeff Long

[written-nature]

On the second day, she saw the hump of a monstrous beast sliding just beneath the surface.

"Deeper" - Jeff Long

[tenth-sentence]

Claws.

"Deeper" - Jeff Long

[written-nature]

"We're still trying to figure out that kind of vegetation he brushed against. The interesting thing is how it's pollen causes a skin irritation. At first it was just a low-grade acne. Recently it began to itch. Itching tears open the cysts, releasing the pollen. (...)"

"Deeper" - Jeff Long

[written-nature]

Some had vestigial wings or gills. Some had the long, climbing arms of ape ancestors, perfect for the vertical shafts of the Subterrain. Some were half the size of humans, possible the result of long isolation and poor diet. Some nested in pockets in the ceilings of caves.

"Deeper" - Jeff Long

[written-nature]

With increasing frequency, they entered caverns illuminated by a type of lichen that ate rock. In its reproductive stage, apparently, the lichen extended a fleshy stalk, or ascocarp, with a positive and negative electrical charge. The result was light, which attracted flatworms by the millions. These were eaten, in turn, by mollusks that traveled on to new, unlit regions. The mollusks excreted lichen spores from their guts. The spores matured to eat the new rock. Light spread by inches through the darkness.

"The Descent" - Jeff Long