The Dark Cave at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur is so called because...OK I am not going to treat you like children. But it is amazing to stand in the middle with all head torches turned off and not be able to see your fingers in front of your face!
It is home to the "rarest spider in the world"- a species of trapdoor spider that is endemic only to Batu. They actually have a trapdoor in their home to surprise prey, but also an emergency back door to escape their own prey. They are blind but keep an extended string between each leg so that if a creature comes near, they can feel the vibrations- if it is a small vibration, they will pop out and grab the animal in less than one second. If it feels like it is a pretty big creature (like the long-legged centipede), then the trapdoor spider can escape quickly out of the back!
Most of the animals are blind and have long legs and antennae so that they can feel their way around.
The cave is also home to a rare cave snake and tiny flat worms. If you cut the latter in half, it will form two new flat worms, if you cut it into eight, there will be eight new flat worms. So these clever worms are important for medical stem cell research.
Of course there are also a lot of fruit eating and insect eating bats, which make guano, which in turn provides nutrients for a whole host of small creatures.
The cave has a marketing and communications dilemma- they do little marketing themselves (other than the website and facebook page) as too many visitors are likely to damage the equilibrium of the cave. However, there is a balance to be had as they need the income from tours to fund the vital conservation work (a bat detector can cost 10,000RM)...
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