Only a handful of animals can survive complete darkness and continuous food shortages in caves because this demands a remarkable adaptation. Life in the Notranjska Regional Park is also extremely diverse beneath the surface where there, among other specialised cave dwellers, lives the narrow-necked blind cave beetle, the first described cave beetle in the world.
This beetle has no eyes and pigment, and orientates itself in the eternal darkness with long antennae and legs sensible to vibrations. In this way, it avoids dangers lurking in the darkness. The greatest peril threatens from the surface in the form of pollution, which discharges into its world, and collectors who keep taking these small beetles and other animals out of caves...
The beetle is not special only in terms of nature, but also in terms of history because with its discovery, Slovenia became the cradle of biospeleology. Our mission to preserve its home intact is therefore even more binding.
