Mysterious 30 million year old cave emits blue light
This is a 30 million year old cave with amazing natural phenomena that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Deep underground in the North Island of New Zealand lies a huge limestone cave that glows a strange blue like neon. These images will make you think you are entering some kind of magical and mysterious fairy cave, but no, these caves are completely real.
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The first thing that catches visitors' eyes when entering Ruakuri Cave is the sparkling light of thousands of fireflies. |
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“When the headlights go out, all you can see is the magical light from the fireflies. At that moment, you feel like you have entered the world of the science fiction movie Avatar,” photographer Jeffers described the Ruakuri cave. |
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These stunning cave photos were taken by photographer Joseph Michael who spent hours waiting to capture the most brilliant moment. |
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This is the light emitted by a larva found only in New Zealand and eastern Australia. |
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It can be seen that above the cave, this species of firefly lives in great numbers, each group consisting of hundreds of them gathered together. |
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The scientific name of the firefly is arachnocampa luminosa. Arachnocampa means “spider bug,” referring to the tool these creatures use to catch prey – spider webs. |
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These creatures have lived here for a long time. They emit light to attract insects in search of food. During the breeding season, the cave is at its most brilliant when males and females compete to shine to attract mates. |
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Fireflies are mainly active at night, many tourists say that looking up at the cave ceiling is no different than looking at a starry sky. |
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Fireflies are short-lived. They live only long enough to mate and lay eggs. A female firefly lays about 130 eggs and dies shortly thereafter. After about three weeks, the eggs hatch into larvae. The larval stage makes up the majority of a firefly’s life, lasting about 6-12 months. The larvae are soft-bodied, except for their head shell. As they outgrow this shell, the larvae begin to molt. This process continues throughout their life. |
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Although glowing is their natural instinct, fireflies can turn off their glowing function if they sense movement. In environments with torches, smoke, other insects, etc., they will "turn off" for about 15 minutes. |
According to Ngoisao
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