Wildlife
Below and above ground, many animals call the park home ... and some live nowhere else on Earth.
Guide Sections
Use Wildlife's guide sections to understand how this stop fits into the larger park plan.
Wildlife Details
Difficulty
Open
Distance
N/A
Estimated time
N/A
Region
Learn About the Park
Wildlife in the park is diverse and, in many cases, fragile. More than 130 species regularly inhabit the cave alone. Species are called troglobites if they live exclusively in the cave, troglophiles if they can complete their life cycle in or out of caves, and trogloxenes if they use the cave for refuge. The converging of many ecosystems, the influence of different climates, and a tremendous range of physical features combine to make the caves in this area some of the most diverse communities in the world. Many cave-dwelling creatures, especially troglobites, have evolved to be so adapted to cave life that they have no pigmentation, no eyes, or have specialized sensory organs for life without light. No large bat colonies currently inhabit the cave, but there are 12 species of bats found here, including two endangered species. Crickets play an important role in supplying the underground inhabitants of the cave as prey and with their droppings, eggs, and carcasses. Above ground, animal inhabitants of the park include white-tailed deer, fox, raccoons, opossum, woodchucks, beavers, rabbits, squirrels, mice, and chipmunks, as well as many amphibians, reptiles (including rattlesnakes and copperheads), birds, and fish. The park's Green River is home to more species of freshwater mussels than any other river in the country, and seven of those species are endangered.
