Life forms on the interior levels of the cave are rare although some forms of life are present other than the tourists and workers. Some of these forms naturally inhabit the cave and others do not belong in the cave at all.

The plant life that is in the cave should not be there. There are forms of algae and possibly some forms of moss, but the only reason that they are there is due to human intervention in the cave. The use of lights and other materials brought in by man have caused the growth of this vegetation and they thrive so well in the cave because it is a constant, cool 48 degrees F all year round, no matter what the weather is above ground.

What animals are common in the cave are bats. The bats are frequent in the cave and use it for the purpose of hibernation. The bats do not seem to be bothered by the frequency of humans in the cave unless provoked. Even then they just remove themselves to a more remote area of the cave. The bats are relatively small creatures, about 2 inches long. They can live to be 20 to 25 years old and one bat eats 3000 bugs every day during the summertime.

Bats hanging from the ceiling

The sub-levels of the cave contain different types of rock and soil structure. In the third level you can see some sedimentary layering with the presence of trace fossils. This is an indication that this layer of the cave was formed in a shallow tidal flat some 500 million years ago during the Cambrian era. Traces of worms, gastropods, crinoids, and trilobites have also been found.

Gastropod fossil found in Crystal Cave

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