WE HAD NEVER HEARD OF AUSTRALIA’S FOSSIL Mammal Sites World Heritage Area and all this while it’s been right under our feet! The constant drip…drip…drip of rainwater filtering through porous limestone over hundreds of thousands of years created a labyrinth of caves along the Limestone Coast. And while Naracoorte Caves aren’t such a much as caves go—it’s chambers aren’t large nor its speleothems impressive—Naracoorte has something even Mammoth Cave or Carlsbad Caverns doesn’t.
Entrance to Naracoorte Caves National Park
Diarama of prehistoric marsupials
Stalactites "grow" upward, Stalactites hang downward
Not in the big league of caves
For over 200,000 years a particular chamber in the Naracoorte Cave system has been a pitfall trap, a hole from the outside world into the cave where the unwary may meet their end. There is no escape the giant Short-Faced Kangaroo who fails to look before he leaps or the Giant Wombat who stumbles into the hole. And it will be the last supper for any Marsupial Lion who enters hoping for an easy meal.
A Word to the Wise
In the Fossil Chamber, Victoria Fossil Cave
Work in progress
Actually, there are probably many undiscovered chambers with remains but we visited the Victoria Fossil Chamber where paleontologists have been studying the remains of these and other ancient animals that once roamed the area. Some of the remains have been reassembled while others lie in situ. And there are more yet to be unearthed.
An uncooperative Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Curiosity killed the Kangaroo
Not all of Naracoorte National Park is underground. There are plenty of hiking trails on the surface and we wandered around a bit after lunch trying in vain to get an angle on this Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo. And I hope this curious kangaroo watches how he goes or he may end up in a hole in the ground.
