The International Year of Caves and Karst is coming in 2021 and our National Parks will be participating with events and activities for all to enjoy.

This article shines a virtual flashlight on some truly amazing inhabitants from National Park System and NNL caves across the country. It is a celebration of the amazing critters that live below our feet and are incredibly adapted to survive unusual environments. It is also a shout out to the various organizations that so carefully steward these precious resources and their homes.

At Timpanogos Cave National Monument, water quality is monitored in two cave pools perched within a steep mountainside. Yet a recent analysis of measurements collected over a ten-year period revealed some surprising results about the influence of human activities on park waters. The findings will help park managers make decisions that protect park resources for enjoyment by future generations.

Winner of the Mammoth Cave National Park's 2021 International Years of Cave and Karst art contest.

Enjoy a fun activity and learn about caves even when you can't get out to a park. In this activity you will build your own cave and learn how to make it like a "real" natural cave. Find out about cave formations and wildlife, and how to be safe and care for caves. New "Blanket Cave National Youth Parks" are springing up all across America! Join the fun!

2019–2020 investigations at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, have revealed an unprecedented assemblage of Paleozoic (Late Mississippian) shark fossils preserved in the passages of the cave system. Not only teeth and spines are present, but there are examples of rare cartilaginous skeletal remains, and the fossils include previously unknown species.

Caves and karst landscapes are important places that are diverse, fascinating, and rich in resources.

A team of paleontologists, cave specialists, and park rangers at Mammoth Cave National Park have discovered a trove of fossil treasures that has yielded one of the most diverse Mississippian shark faunas in North America.