Right in the centre of New Zealand's North Island are some caves and deep down inside these caves you can find glowworms and that's why I started this blog with that little rhyme. The caves are actually on someone's private land and the farmer rents it out to a tourist operator. There were a few different choices of cave adventures and we decided on the one called Lost World. We dressed in gum shoes, overalls and a harness, a collection of straps around the waist and things with some metal clips on it. We walked through the farm and then down a steep slope and during the more dangerous parts of the walk we had to attach ourselves to the lines which run alongside. Our guide didn't like us staying unattached at any time so we had to put two clips on the line and slide it along till we arrived at the corner where the line was hooked onto the rock. Then we unclipped one, clipped it onto the rope around the corner and then unclipped the other and did the same. In this way we always had one clip on the line.

Then we got to a point where there was a small platform above the entrance to the cave. The view was incredible. The walls of the shaft were covered with hanging vines and moss and there was a small river floating on the bottom Here you had to lean on the barrier which felt really scary because, though you were still attached to something, you couldn't feel it and it felt just like sitting freely on the edge and in any moment you could fall down. Then you had to trust that the rope on which you were supposed to hang was strong enough to support you and then you got instructions how to safely slide yourself down the rope., 100 metres to the bottom. This is called abseiling and it was truly incredible. On the way down we could see stalactites.

Once on the bottom we stood by the river and looked up. The light was seeping in throw the long shaft.. We could barely see where we came from. We went up the river crossing it on the slippery rocks, again attaching ourselves to the secure rope on more tricky bits. We entered the cave. We walked deeper into the cave lighting the way with the lamps on our helmets. We passed some impressive stalagmites and columns. All these natural 'decorations have formed as a result of water dripping from the roof of the cave or flowing over the exposed limestone walls. As the water flows down through the earth towards the cave roof and walls, it dissolves limestone in its path. This limestone is then left as a crystalline deposit within the cave. All this process took thousands of years and the formations are very fragile so, when walking, we had to be very careful not to damage them.

Then we got to a place where we sat down under a hanging rock and switched off our lamps. It was completely dark and then we looked up and could see hundreds of little turquoise shiny lights. It looked like tiny Christmas lights. We sat watching in amazement. It was a little wonder of nature. So what were these little lights and who put them there? The answer is these little lights got there on their own. They are living creatures, the glow worms. I found out that this little poem was very right in one aspect and very wrong in the other. In their larval stage the glow worm hangs on his hammock by the ceiling. The little guy lets a few sticky feeding lines down. As larva he hasn't developed a digestion system and all the waste is being burned and while it's happening the insect glows. It does virtually glow the light at of their bums. It's not as romantic though as portrayed in the rhyme, it's a result of a biological function. It does serve something else though; our glow-worm feeds on other insects and the light attracts all insects who get into the cave. Any flying thing that can't find their way out will fly to the light thinking it's the way out but here in the cave he will often end up caught in the glow worm feeding lines

The weird thing, at least weird from our perspective, it's probably completely natural for the glow warm, is that he lives in the larval stage for 9 months. Then, after 12 days of the Pupa stage (it's like cocoon stage for butterflies) the glow worm transforms into an adult glow warm but as an adult glow worm, the bioluminescence light of the female serves to attract the male. As an adult the glowworm, who now doesn't have a mouth, can't eat. He meets a lady glow worm and for next two days mates and makes many little glow worms with her. So far so good you think. But now everything is going downhill. Firstly - how long can you live on love alone. Secondly exhausted after all this passion and no food the glow worm often gets so confused that after few days he tries to fly out to the light and instead - guess what, he flies to the little lights and gets eaten by his younger brothers or cousins. Many of his babies in the meantime are eaten by their brothers and sisters after they emerge from the egg and make they way up to the ceiling where they want to put their feeding lines down. I don't know what happens to mummy, the widow. Presumably, same thing.

So here is something to think about. How different the life cycle can be for different creatures. How we are all equipped in different things which allow us to survive better in our environment. How the strongest have more chances to survive and how nature regulates life. Everything in nature has its balance and all is organized, if you think about it, in a very clever way. We have predators who eat other animals to live but also eliminate an excess of these animals which are the basis of their food. Otherwise there wouldn't be enough resources for everyone. Now, I am not a specialist in biology but I would assume that probably the animals which are higher on the food chain don't multiply themselves as much as the ones that at some stage become their dinners. If there are no predators in some cases the creatures would control their numbers themselves by eating each other. And though it may seem gruesome and unnatural - this is a part of life's cycle. Still, it's nice to think we are on the top of the chain but as you may or may not know cannibalism is not strange to us humans either.