In Belize’s Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, a sacred Maya site, plants grow in darkness, sparking concerns about how tourism affects its fragile ecosystem.

Why it's awesome: Deep inside one of Gabon's cave systems lives an unusual population of orange dwarf crocodiles. They live in complete darkness, feast on bats and swim in liquid guano (aka bat poop.) ...

among the larger of the leaf-nosed bats, has a wide distribution stretching from India in the west to China in the east, and ...

Image by M. Aziz. The species is a high-altitude cave dweller known for its ... recognized for hosting a colony of these bats that roost in its cool, dark depths, the researchers said.