When my Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us, one of the things we did with them is the Waitomo Caves. The caves were really big and had lots of glowworms. The glowworms were on the cave ceiling and looked like tiny stars. The glowworms catch bugs to eat by hanging a sticky string from the ceiling. The bugs see the glowworm's light and they go toward it and then get caught. The glowworms life cycle goes egg, larva, pupa, adult. The eggs hatch after 20 days. After the eggs hatch they are larva and they catch food. Then they are pupa and that is when they are in a cocoon. Adults live only a few days and in the that few days they mate.
We saw some stalagmites (stalagmites look like icicles made from rock on the floor) and some stalactites (stalactites look like icicles made from rock hanging from the ceiling).
To get out of the cave we had to ride in a boat. We had to be quiet in the boat and it was completely dark except for the glowworms.
In 1887 the caves were first explored by Chief Tane and the English explorer Fred Mace. They got into the caves by building a raft of flax stems and they only had candles for light. After exploring the caves, Chief Tane began leading tours through the caves in 1889.
- Maddie
So interesting! Did the glowworms make enough light to see by? Was the lake deep? It sounds very mysterious. Thanks for the picture!
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