We help clean up a unique and fragile ecosystem on the edge of what is known to science and on the brink of extinction. What a privilege to be able to do such work! All thanks to our amazing Mossy Earth Members who funded this project with their monthly contributions.

🙌 Subscribe to Mossy Earth: https://www.youtube.com/c/Moss....yEarth?sub_confirmat

START REWILDING OUR PLANET TODAY
===============================
With us, you will restore nature and fight climate change every month
🌲 Plant native trees to capture carbon
🐺 Rewild habitats to support biodiversity
🐉 Support underfunded species and ecosystems
Become a Mossy Earth Member: https://mossy.earth !

💡 ABOUT THIS PROJECT
===============================
The cave we are cleaning is called Rupecica and is located near Ogulin in Croatia.

This type of cave is part of the karst topography of this region characterised by a complex maze of interconnected cave systems, sinkholes, and above-ground streams.

As a consequence of this, some fascinating ecosystems have flourished in these caves with some really unusual creatures, and sometimes, when the caves are isolated for long enough, they may even contain species that only exist in a single cave, much like a lonely island in a vast ocean.

This particular cave is home to the olm (Proteus anguinus) listed by the IUCN as vulnerable to extinction, the Croatian Dace (Telestes polylepis) which is only known to exist in this cave and is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN and Eunapius subterraneus which is the only freshwater sponge in the world that lives in caves and currently isn't even on the IUCN list due to data deficiency.

In the past, this cave was used as a dumpsite and while a lot of the surface waste has been removed there is still the underwater waste to contend with. The mix of trash down there includes large plastic and metallic objects and electronic appliances with an estimated volume of approximately 16 m3. Many of these materials take centuries to degrade and will continue to release toxic chemicals into the cave water if they are not removed.

This is a unique and wonderful world that lives on the edge of what is known to science and on the brink of extinction which is why Tiago one of our Biologists here at Mossy Earth selected this project for us to carry out with the funds from our amazing Mossy Earth members.

You can read all about this project here: https://mossy.earth/projects/rewilding/cave-clean-up