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Inspired by real local caves, Cincinnati Museum Center’s is one of the largest artificial caves found in the United States, with more than 500 feet of passages through a realistic and immersive experience.
MEET THE EXPERTS
Meet the experts from Cincinnati Museum Center that will be guiding your virtual adventure.
A special thanks to the Youth Programs Volunteers for their expertise and input.
Curator of Vertebrate Zoology
Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology
Coordinator of Animal Programs
Manager of Gallery Activities
Coordinator of Gallery Activities
Youth Program Volunteers
WANT TO GO CAVING?
Remember the rule of threes while planning cave trips!
You should always: have three light sources, have three points of contact if you are climbing, cave in groups of at least three people, and tell people where and when you are going and when you'll return.
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Click the icons on the right side of the screen to learn more about the gear cave explorers use!
ALLEGHENY WOODRATS
CMC studies an endangered species of rodent called Allegheny Woodrats in its genetic research lab. Since they only use caves when needed, Allegheny woodrats are an example of trogloxenes. They are well-adapted for a nocturnal lifestyle and have large ears, large eyes and long whiskers to forage for food in the dark. Meet CMC’s Curator of Zoology, Heather Farrington, to learn how her research helps Allegheny woodrats at the Edge of Appalachia Nature Preserve.
Image courtesy of Rich McCarty
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Join CMC’s Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Dr. Heather Farrington, as she explores these fascinating animals!
FOSSIL WALL
Caves provide a window to the past. Skeletons and fossils from caves help scientists reconstruct past environments. Some fossils are evidence that a warm, shallow ocean teeming with life covered this region 350 million years ago. As creatures died, their skeletons accumulated over time to form the limestone rock that caves hollow out.
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Get a closer look at this evolution with CMC’s Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Dr. Brenda Hunda, as she dives deep into the science of paleoecology.
Click on the icons to explore more about this area of The Cave.
Click on the icons to explore more about this area of The Cave.
Click on the icons to explore more about this area of The Cave.
Click on the icons to explore more about this area of The Cave.
BATS UP CLOSE
CMC’s big brown bat colony has lived in Union Terminal for twenty-five years. In caves, big brown bats roost in summer and hibernate in winter. Bats echolocate – or bounce sound off objects – to navigate dark environments. Meet CMC’s Animal Programs Coordinator, Ann Wegman, to learn what makes bats special.
Image of Hibernating Big Brown Bats. Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife
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Join CMC’s Coordinator of Animal Programs, Ann Wegman, as she talks about the exciting features of bats!
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Follow CMC’s Coordinator of Animal Programs, Ann Wegman, as she goes inside the Bat Flight Cage!
Click on the icons to explore more about this area of The Cave.
Click on the icons to explore more about this area of The Cave.
There are many different kinds of caves around the world. The largest limestone cave is in Vietnam. The movement of water or wind forms erosional caves, such as Wind Cave in Utah. Lava carves out other types of caves, such as those found in Hawaii. Chart your own adventure to learn about other types of caves.
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EXPERIMENT BREAK!
Sugar Caverns
Water picks up carbon dioxide as it travels through soil, forming carbonic acid. The acidic water enters rock, dissolving it and slowly shaping caves. Eventually, this water exits through a spring, waterfall, or small drip. In this experiment, the clay represents the soil, and the sugar cubes represent the rock underneath. As the sugar cubes disintegrate into microscopic particles, a cavern forms.
Image courtesy of Mammoth Cave National Park, via Wikimedia Commons
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Join CMC’s Youth Programs Volunteers to learn more about how you can simulate cave formation at home!
