Occurrence of Attributes in Original Text
The text related to the cultural heritage 'Mammoth Cave National Park' has mentioned 'Cave' in the following places:
| Occurrence Sentence | Text Source |
|---|---|
| National park and cave in Kentucky, USA | WIKI |
| "Mammoth Cave" redirects here. | WIKI |
| For other uses, see Mammoth Cave (disambiguation). | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave National ParkIUCN category II (national park)The Rotunda Room at Mammoth CaveLocation in KentuckyShow map of KentuckyLocation in the United StatesShow map of the United StatesLocationEdmonson, Hart, and Barren counties, Kentucky, U.S.Nearestxc2xa0cityBrownsvilleCoordinates37xc2xb011xe2x80xb213xe2x80xb3N 86xc2xb006xe2x80xb204xe2x80xb3Wxefxbbxbf / xefxbbxbf37.18694xc2xb0N 86.10111xc2xb0Wxefxbbxbf / 37.18694; -86.10111Coordinates: 37xc2xb011xe2x80xb213xe2x80xb3N 86xc2xb006xe2x80xb204xe2x80xb3Wxefxbbxbf / xefxbbxbf37.18694xc2xb0N 86.10111xc2xb0Wxefxbbxbf / 37.18694; -86.10111Area52,830 acres (213.8xc2xa0km2)[1]EstablishedJuly 1, 1941Visitors533,206 (inxc2xa02018)[2]Governingxc2xa0bodyNational Park ServiceWebsiteMammoth Cave National Park UNESCO World Heritage SiteCriteriaNatural: vii, viii, xReference150Inscription1981 (5th session) | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave National Park is an American national park in west-central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. | WIKI |
| Since the 1972 unification of Mammoth Cave with the even-longer system under Flint Ridge to the north, the official name of the system has been the Mammothxe2x80x93Flint Ridge Cave System. | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave is the world's longest known cave system with more than 400 miles (640xc2xa0km) of surveyed passageways,[3][4] which is nearly twice as long as the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave. | WIKI |
| Contents 1 Park purpose 2 Geology 3 Visiting 4 History 4.1 Prehistory 4.2 Earliest written history 4.3 19th century 4.4 Early 20th century: The Kentucky Cave Wars 4.5 The national park movement (1926xe2x80x931941) 4.6 Birth of the national park (1941) 4.7 The longest cave (1954xe2x80x931972) 4.8 Flintxe2x80x93Mammoth connection (1972) 4.9 Recent discoveries 4.9.1 Related and nearby caves 5 Climate 6 Biology and ecosystem 7 Name 8 Cultural references 9 Park superintendents 10 See also 11 References 12 Bibliography 12.1 General references 12.2 Brucker series 12.3 Archaeology 12.4 Geology 13 External links | WIKI |
| The purpose of Mammoth Cave National Park is to preserve, protect, interpret, and study the internationally recognized biological and geologic features and processes associated with the longest known cave system in the world, the parkxe2x80x99s diverse forested, karst landscape, the Green and Nolin rivers, and extensive evidence of human history; and to provide and promote public enjoyment, recreation, and understanding. | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestone strata capped by a layer of sandstone, which has made the system remarkably stable. | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve the cave system. | WIKI |
| Thin, sparse layers of limestone interspersed within the sandstone give rise to an epikarstic zone, in which tiny conduits (cave passages too small to enter) are dissolved by the natural acidity of groundwater. | WIKI |
| The Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave, woodcut (1887) | WIKI |
| For example, the large Main Cave passage seen on the Historic Tour is located at the bottom of the Girkin and the top of the Ste. | WIKI |
| One area of cave research involves correlating the stratigraphy with the cave survey produced by explorers. | WIKI |
| This protective role means that many of the older, upper passages of the cave system are very dry, with no stalactites, stalagmites, or other formations which require flowing or dripping water to develop. | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave is home to the endangered Kentucky cave shrimp, a sightless albino shrimp. | WIKI |
| A ranger-guided tour of the cave | WIKI |
| The National Park Service offers several cave tours to visitors. | WIKI |
| Some notable features of the cave, such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man's Misery, can be seen on lighted tours ranging from one to six hours in length. | WIKI |
| Several "wild" tours venture away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty tunnels. | WIKI |
| The Echo River Tour, one of the cave's most famous attractions, took visitors on a boat ride along an underground river. | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave headquarters and visitor center is located on Mammoth Cave Parkway. | WIKI |
| The story of human beings in relation to Mammoth Cave spans five thousand years. | WIKI |
| Several sets of Native American remains have been recovered from Mammoth Cave, or other nearby caves in the region, in both the 19th and 20th centuries. | WIKI |
| The remains of the ancient victim were named "Lost John" and exhibited to the public into the 1970s, when they were interred in a secret location in Mammoth Cave for reasons of preservation as well as emerging political sensitivities with respect to the public display of Native American remains. | WIKI |
| Preserved by the constant cave environment, dietary evidence yielded carbon dates enabling Watson and others to determine the age of the specimens. | WIKI |
| Another technique employed in archaeological research, at Mammoth Cave, was "experimental archaeology" in which modern explorers were sent into the cave using the same technology as that employed by the ancient cultures whose leftover implements lie discarded in many parts of the cave. | WIKI |
| The goal was to gain insight into the problems faced by the ancient people who explored the cave, by placing the researchers in a similar physical situation. | WIKI |
| Explorers are properly trained not to disturb archaeological evidence, and some areas of the cave remain out-of-bounds for even seasoned explorers, unless the subject of the trip is archaeological research on that area. | WIKI |
| Besides the remains that have been discovered in the portion of the cave accessible through the Historic Entrance of Mammoth Cave, the remains of cane torches used by Native Americans, as well as other artifacts such as drawings, gourd fragments, and woven grass moccasin slippers are found in the Salts Cave section of the system in Flint Ridge. | WIKI |
| Though there is undeniable proof of their existence and use of the cave, there is no evidence of further use past the archaic period. | WIKI |
| Experts and scientists have no answer as to why this is, making it one of the greatest mysteries of Mammoth Cave to this day. | WIKI |
| Legend has it that the first European to visit Mammoth Cave was either John Houchin or his brother Francis Houchin, in 1797. | WIKI |
| While hunting, Houchin pursued a wounded bear to the cave's large entrance opening near the Green River. | WIKI |
| Some Houchin Family tales have John Decatur "Johnny Dick" Houchin as the discoverer of the cave, but this is highly unlikely because Johnny Dick was only 10 years old in 1797 and was unlikely to be out hunting bears at such a tender age. | WIKI |
| His father John is the more likely candidate from that branch of the family tree, but the most probable candidate for discoverer of Mammoth Cave is Francis "Frank" Houchin, whose land was much closer to the cave entrance than his brother John's. | WIKI |
| as a great hunter and trapper, was the man who shot that bear and chased it into the cave. | WIKI |
| Contrary to this story is Brucker and Watson's The Longest Cave, which asserts that the cave was "certainly known before that time." | WIKI |
| Caves in the area were known before the discovery of the entrance to Mammoth Cave. | WIKI |
| Even Francis Houchin had a cave entrance on his land very near the bend in the Green River known as the Turnhole, which is less than a mile from the main entrance of Mammoth Cave. | WIKI |
| Simons began exploiting Mammoth Cave for its saltpeter reserves. | WIKI |
| He found the cave entrance when he ran into the cave for protection from the charging bear. | WIKI |
| Map of Mammoth Cave (1897) | WIKI |
| In partnership with Valentine Simon, various other individuals would own the land through the War of 1812, when Mammoth Cave's saltpeter reserves became significant due to the Jefferson Embargo Act of 1807 which prohibited all foreign trade. | WIKI |
| As a result, the domestic price of saltpeter rose and production based on nitrates extracted from caves such as Mammoth Cave became more lucrative. | WIKI |
| In July 1812, the cave was purchased from Simon and other owners by Charles Wilkins and an investor from Philadelphia named Hyman Gratz. | WIKI |
| Soon the cave was being mined for calcium nitrate on an industrial scale, utilizing a labor force of 70 slaves to build and operate the soil leaching apparatus, as well as to haul the raw soil from deep in the cave to the central processing site. | WIKI |
| A half-interest in the cave changed hands for ten thousand dollars (a huge sum at the time)[according to whom?]. | WIKI |
| When Wilkins died his estate's executors sold his interest in the cave to Gratz. | WIKI |
| In the spring of 1838, the cave was sold by the Gratz brothers to Franklin Gorin, who intended to operate Mammoth Cave purely as a tourist attraction, the bottom long having since fallen out of the saltpeter market. | WIKI |
| One of these slaves would make a number of important contributions to human knowledge of the cave, and become one of Mammoth Cave's most celebrated historical figures. | WIKI |
| Stephen Bishop, an African-American slave and a guide to the cave during the 1840s and 1850s, was one of the first people to make extensive maps of the cave, and named many of the cave's features. | WIKI |
| Stephen Bishop was introduced to Mammoth Cave in 1838 by Franklin Gorin. | WIKI |
| Gorin wrote, after Bishop's death: "I placed a guide in the cave xe2x80x93 the celebrated and great Stephen, and he aided in making the discoveries. | WIKI |
| "After Stephen crossed the Bottomless Pit, we discovered all that part of the cave now known beyond that point. | WIKI |
| Previous to those discoveries, all interest centered in what is known as the 'Old Cave' ... but now many of the points are but little known, although as Stephen was wont to say, they were 'grand, gloomy and peculiar'. | WIKI |
| In 1839, John Croghan of Louisville bought the Mammoth Cave Estate, including Bishop and its other slaves from their previous owner, Franklin Gorin. | WIKI |
| Croghan briefly ran an ill-fated tuberculosis hospital in the cave in 1842-43, the vapors of which he believed would cure his patients. | WIKI |
| Throughout the 19th century, the fame of Mammoth Cave would grow so that the cave became an international sensation. | WIKI |
| At the same time, the cave attracted the attention of 19th century writers such as Robert Montgomery Bird, the Rev. | WIKI |
| [12] As a result of the growing renown of Mammoth Cave, the cave boasted famous visitors such as actor Edwin Booth (his brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865), singer Jenny Lind (who visited the cave on Aprilxc2xa05, 1851), and violinist Ole Bull who together gave a concert in one of the caves. | WIKI |
| By 1859, when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad opened its main line between these cities, Colonel Larkin J. Procter owned the Mammoth Cave Estate. | WIKI |
| He also owned the stagecoach line that ran between Glasgow Junction (Park City) and the Mammoth Cave Estate. | WIKI |
| This line transported tourists to Mammoth Caves until 1886, when he established the Mammoth Cave Railroad. | WIKI |
| Early 20th century: The Kentucky Cave Wars[edit] | WIKI |
| The difficulties of farming life in the hardscrabble, poor soil of the cave-country influenced local owners of smaller nearby caves to see opportunities for commercial exploitation, particularly given the success of Mammoth Cave as a tourist attraction. | WIKI |
| The "Kentucky Cave Wars" was a period of bitter competition between local cave owners for tourist money. | WIKI |
| Misleading signs were placed along the roads leading to the Mammoth Cave. | WIKI |
| A typical strategy during the early days of automobile travel involved representatives (known as "cappers") of other private show caves hopping aboard a tourist's car's running board, and leading the passengers to believe that Mammoth Cave was closed, quarantined, caved in or otherwise inaccessible. | WIKI |
| In 1906, Mammoth Cave became accessible by steamboat with the construction of a lock and dam at Brownsville, Kentucky. | WIKI |
| In 1908, Max Kxc3xa4mper, a young German mining engineer, arrived at the cave by way of New York. | WIKI |
| Originally intending to spend two weeks at Mammoth Cave, Kxc3xa4mper spent several months. | WIKI |
| With the assistance of Stephen Bishop, a Mammoth Cave Guide, Kxc3xa4mper produced a remarkably accurate instrumental survey of many kilometers of Mammoth Cave, including many new discoveries. | WIKI |
| Reportedly, Kxc3xa4mper also produced a corresponding survey of the land surface overlying the cave: this information was to be useful in the opening of other entrances to the cave, as soon happened with the Violet City entrance. | WIKI |
| The Croghan family suppressed the topographic element of Kxc3xa4mper's map, and it is not known to survive today, although the cave map portion of Kxc3xa4mper's work stands as a triumph of accurate cave cartography: not until the early 1960s and the advent of the modern exploration period would these passages be surveyed and mapped with greater accuracy. | WIKI |
| Kxc3xa4mper returned to Berlin, and from the point of view of the Mammoth Cave country, disappeared entirely. | WIKI |
| It was not until the turn of the 21st century that a group of German tourists, after visiting the cave, researched Kxc3xa4mper's family and determined his fate: the young Kxc3xa4mper was killed in trench warfare in World War I at the Battle of the Somme December 10, 1916. | WIKI |
| Stalactites, and stalagmites formed from travertine inside Mammoth Cave | WIKI |
| Famed French cave explorer xc3x89douard-Alfred Martel visited the cave for three days in October 1912. | WIKI |
| Without access to the closely held survey data, Martel was permitted to make barometric observations in the cave for the purpose of determining the relative elevation of different locations in the cave. | WIKI |
| He identified different levels of the cave and correctly noted that the level of the Echo River within the cave was controlled by that of the Green River on the surface. | WIKI |
| Martel lamented the 1906 construction of the dam at Brownsville, pointing out that this made a full hydrologic study of the cave impossible. | WIKI |
| Among his precise descriptions of the hydrogeologic setting of Mammoth Cave, Martel offered the speculative conclusion that Mammoth Cave was connected to Salts and Colossal Caves: this would not be proven correct until 60 years after Martel's visit. | WIKI |
| In the early 1920s, George Morrison created, via blasting, a number of entrances to Mammoth Cave on land not owned by the Croghan Estate. | WIKI |
| Absent the data from the Croghan's secretive surveys, performed by Kxc3xa4mper, Bishop, and others, which had not been published in a form suitable for determining the geographic extent of the cave, it was now conclusively shown that the Croghans had been for years exhibiting portions of Mammoth Cave which were not under land they owned. | WIKI |
| Lawsuits were filed and, for a time, different entrances to the cave were operated in direct competition with each other. | WIKI |
| In the early 20th century, Floyd Collins spent ten years exploring the Flint Ridge Cave System (the most important legacy of these explorations was the discovery of Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave and exploration in Salts Cave) before dying at Sand Cave, Kentucky, in 1925. | WIKI |
| While exploring Sand Cave, he dislodged a rock onto his leg while in a tight crawlway and was unable to be rescued before dying of starvation. | WIKI |
| [14] Attempts to rescue Collins created a mass media sensation; the resulting publicity would draw prominent Kentuckians to initiate a movement which would soon result in the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park. | WIKI |
| River Styx cave boat tour | WIKI |
| As the last of the Croghan heirs died, advocacy momentum grew among wealthy citizens of Kentucky for the establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park. | WIKI |
| Private citizens formed the Mammoth Cave National Park Association in 1924. | WIKI |
| In contrast to the formation of other national parks in the sparsely populated American West, thousands of people would be forcibly relocated in the process of forming Mammoth Cave National Park. | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave National Park was officially dedicated on Julyxc2xa01, 1941. | WIKI |
| The longest cave (1954xe2x80x931972)[edit] | WIKI |
| By 1954, Mammoth Cave National Park's land holdings encompassed all lands within its outer boundary with the exception of two privately held tracts. | WIKI |
| One of these, the old Lee Collins farm, had been sold to Harry Thomas of Horse Cave, Kentucky, whose grandson, William "Bill" Austin, operated Collins Crystal Cave as a show cave in direct competition with the national park, which was forced to maintain roads leading to the property. | WIKI |
| Condemnation and purchase of the Crystal Cave property seemed only a matter of time. | WIKI |
| In February 1954, a two-week expedition under the auspices of the National Speleological Society was organized at the invitation of Austin: this expedition became known as C-3, or the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition. | WIKI |
| The C-3 expedition drew public interest, first from a photo essay published by Robert Halmi in the July 1954 issue of True Magazine and later from the publication of a double first-person account of the expedition, The Caves Beyond: The Story of the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition by Joe Lawrence, Jr. (then president of the National Speleological Society) and Roger Brucker. | WIKI |
| The expedition proved conclusively that passages in Crystal Cave extended toward Mammoth Cave proper, at least exceeding the Crystal Cave property boundaries. | WIKI |
| In 1955 Crystal Cave was connected by survey with Unknown Cave, the first connection in the Flint Ridge system. | WIKI |
| The organization sought to legitimize the cave explorers' activity through the support of original academic and scientific research. | WIKI |
| Notable scientists who studied Mammoth Cave during this period include Patty Jo Watson (see section on prehistory.) | WIKI |
| In March 1961, the Crystal Cave property was sold to the National Park Service for $285,000. | WIKI |
| [24] At the same time, the Great Onyx Cave property, the only other remaining private inholding, was purchased for $365,000. | WIKI |
| Colossal Cave was connected by survey to Salts Cave in 1960 and in 1961 Colossal-Salts cave was similarly connected to Crystal-Unknown cave, creating a single cave system under much of Flint Ridge. | WIKI |
| By 1972, the Flint Ridge Cave System had been surveyed to a length of 86.5 miles (139.2xc2xa0km), making it the longest cave in the world. | WIKI |
| River Styx, one of the cave's semi-subterranean waterways, emerges onto the surface in the park. | WIKI |
| During the 1960s, Cave Research Foundation (CRF) exploration and mapping teams had found passageways in the Flint Ridge Cave System that penetrated under Houchins Valley and came within 800 feet (240xc2xa0m) of known passages in Mammoth Cave. | WIKI |
| In 1972, CRF Chief Cartographer John Wilcox pursued an aggressive program to finally connect the caves, fielding several expeditions from the Flint Ridge side as well as exploring leads in Mammoth Cave. | WIKI |
| On a July 1972 trip, deep in the Flint Ridge Cave System, Patricia Crowtherxe2x80x94with her slight frame of 115 pounds (52xc2xa0kg)xe2x80x94crawled through a narrow canyon later dubbed the "Tight Spot", which acted as a filter for larger cavers. | WIKI |
| A subsequent trip past the Tight Spot on Augustxc2xa030, 1972, by Wilcox, Crowther, Richard Zopf, and Tom Brucker discovered the name "Pete H" inscribed on the wall of a river passage with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mammoth Cave. | WIKI |
| [25] The name is believed to have been carved by Warner P. "Pete" Hanson, who was active in exploring the cave in the 1930s. | WIKI |
| Finally, on Septemberxc2xa09, 1972, a six-person CRF team of Wilcox, Crowther, Zopf, Gary Eller, Stephen Wells, and Cleveland Pinnix (a National Park Service ranger) followed Hanson's Lost River downstream to discover its connection with Echo River in Cascade Hall of Mammoth Cave. | WIKI |
| With this linking of the Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave systems, the "Everest of speleology" had been climbed. | WIKI |
| The integrated cave system contained 144.4 miles (232.4xc2xa0km) of surveyed passages and had fourteen entrances. | WIKI |
| Mammoth cave system and surface | WIKI |
| Further connections between Mammoth Cave and smaller caves or cave systems have followed, notably to Proctor/Morrison Cave beneath nearby Joppa Ridge in 1979. | WIKI |
| Proctor Cave was discovered by Jonathan Doyle, a Union Army deserter during the Civil War, and was later owned by the Mammoth Cave Railroad, before being explored by the CRF. | WIKI |
| Morrison cave was discovered by George Morrison in the 1920s. | WIKI |
| At the same time, discoveries made outside the park by an independent group called the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition or CKKC resulted in the survey of tens of miles in Roppel Cave east of the park. | WIKI |
| Discovered in 1976, Roppel Cave was briefly on the list of the nation's longest caves before it was connected to the Proctor/Morrison's section of the Mammoth Cave System on Septemberxc2xa010, 1983. | WIKI |
| On March 19, 2005, a connection into the Roppel Cave portion of the system was surveyed from a small cave under Eudora Ridge, adding approximately three miles to the known length of the Mammoth Cave System. | WIKI |
| The newly found entrance to the cave, now termed the "Hoover Entrance", had been discovered in September 2003, by Alan Canon and James Wells. | WIKI |
| It is certain that many more miles of cave passages await discovery in the region. | WIKI |
| Discovery of new natural entrances is a rare event: the primary mode of discovery involves the pursuit of side passages identified during routine systematic exploration of cave passages entered from known entrances. | WIKI |
| At least two other massive cave systems lie short distances from Mammoth Cave: the Fisher Ridge Cave System and the Martin Ridge Cave System. | WIKI |
| The Fisher Ridge Cave System was discovered in January 1981 by a group of Michigan cavers associated with the Detroit Urban Grotto of the National Speleological Society. | WIKI |
| [28] So far, the Fisher Ridge Cave System has been mapped to 125 miles (201xc2xa0km). | WIKI |
| [5] In 1976, Rick Schwartz discovered a large cave south of the Mammoth Cave park boundary. | WIKI |
| This cave became known as the Martin Ridge Cave System in 1996, as new exploration connected the 3 nearby caves of Whigpistle Cave (Schwartz's original entrance), Martin Ridge Cave, and Jackpot Cave. | WIKI |
| As of 2018, the Martin Ridge Cave System had been mapped to a length of 34 miles (55xc2xa0km), and exploration continued. | WIKI |
| According to the Kxc3xb6ppen climate classification system, Mammoth Cave National Park has a Humid subtropical climate (Cfa). | WIKI |
| According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the Plant Hardiness zone at Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor Center at 722xc2xa0ft (220 m) elevation is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -3.2xc2xa0xc2xb0F (-19.6xc2xa0xc2xb0C). | WIKI |
| Climate data for Mammoth Cave National Park (1991xe2x80x932020 normals, extremes 1934xe2x80x93present) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high xc2xb0F (xc2xb0C) 80(27) 82(28) 86(30) 91(33) 96(36) 108(42) 108(42) 105(41) 106(41) 99(37) 93(34) 80(27) 108(42) Average high xc2xb0F (xc2xb0C) 47.9(8.8) 53.2(11.8) 62.3(16.8) 73.4(23.0) 81.2(27.3) 88.0(31.1) 91.0(32.8) 90.2(32.3) 85.0(29.4) 74.0(23.3) 61.2(16.2) 51.0(10.6) 71.5(21.9) Daily mean xc2xb0F (xc2xb0C) 38.6(3.7) 42.7(5.9) 50.9(10.5) 60.7(15.9) 69.0(20.6) 76.2(24.6) 79.6(26.4) 78.5(25.8) 72.5(22.5) 61.6(16.4) 50.5(10.3) 42.0(5.6) 60.2(15.7) Average low xc2xb0F (xc2xb0C) 29.3(xe2x88x921.5) 32.2(0.1) 39.5(4.2) 48.0(8.9) 56.8(13.8) 64.4(18.0) 68.3(20.2) 66.7(19.3) 60.0(15.6) 49.1(9.5) 39.7(4.3) 33.0(0.6) 48.9(9.4) Record low xc2xb0F (xc2xb0C) xe2x88x9220(xe2x88x9229) xe2x88x9221(xe2x88x9229) xe2x88x926(xe2x88x9221) 18(xe2x88x928) 27(xe2x88x923) 32(0) 40(4) 37(3) 29(xe2x88x922) 18(xe2x88x928) xe2x88x928(xe2x88x9222) xe2x88x9218(xe2x88x9228) xe2x88x9221(xe2x88x9229) Average precipitation inches (mm) 3.73(95) 4.47(114) 5.01(127) 4.92(125) 5.16(131) 4.84(123) 4.93(125) 3.82(97) 3.95(100) 3.79(96) 4.09(104) 4.78(121) 53.49(1,359) Average snowfall inches (cm) 0.7(1.8) 1.4(3.6) 0.6(1.5) 0.0(0.0) 0.0(0.0) 0.0(0.0) 0.0(0.0) 0.0(0.0) 0.0(0.0) 0.0(0.0) 0.0(0.0) 1.3(3.3) 4.0(10) Average precipitation days (xe2x89xa5 0.01 in) 11.5 10.8 12.9 11.9 12.1 11.9 10.7 9.1 7.9 9.0 9.5 11.5 128.8 Average snowy days (xe2x89xa5 0.1 in) 0.4 0.7 0.6 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 2.1 Source: NOAA[31][32] | WIKI |
| While these species still exist in Mammoth Cave, their numbers are now no more than a few thousand at best. | WIKI |
| Ecological restoration of this portion of Mammoth Cave, and facilitating the return of bats, is an ongoing effort. | WIKI |
| Not all bat species here inhabit the cave; the red bat (Lasiurus borealis) is a forest-dweller, as found underground only rarely. | WIKI |
| Other animals which inhabit the caves include: two genera of crickets (Hadenoecus subterraneus) and (Ceuthophilus stygius) (Ceuthophilus latens), a cave salamander (Eurycea lucifuga), two genera of eyeless cave fish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) and (Amblyopsis spelaea), a cave crayfish (Orconectes pellucidus), and a cave shrimp (Palaemonias ganteri). | WIKI |
| Potential natural vegetation Types, Mammoth Cave National Park has an Oak/Hickory (100) potential vegetation type with an Eastern Hardwood Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest (25) potential vegetation form. | WIKI |
| Common fossils of the cave include crinoids, blastoids, and gastropods. | WIKI |
| The cave's name refers to the large width and length of the passages connecting to the Rotunda just inside the entrance. | WIKI |
| [36] The name was used long before the extensive cave system was more fully explored and mapped, to reveal a mammoth length of passageways. | WIKI |
| No fossils of the woolly mammoth have ever been found in Mammoth Cave, and the name of the cave has nothing to do with this extinct mammal. | WIKI |
| A significant amount of the work of American poet Donald Finkel stems from his experiences caving in Mammoth Cave National Park. | WIKI |
| [37] The layout for one of the earliest computer games, Will Crowther's 1976 Colossal Cave Adventure, was based partly on the Mammoth Cave system. | WIKI |
| The game's third act itself also partially takes place within the Mammoth Cave system, and has references to Colossal Cave Adventure. | WIKI |
| [39][40] H. P. Lovecraft's 1918 short story "The Beast in the Cave" is set in "the Mammoth Cave". | WIKI |
| [41] American rock band Guided by Voices referenced the cave in the 1990 song "Mammoth Cave" from their album Same Place the Fly Got Smashed. | WIKI |
| [42] The "Kentucky Mammoth Cave" is used as a metaphor for a sperm whale's stomach in chapter 75 of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. | WIKI |
| [43] Fiction writer Lillie Devereux Blake writing for The Knickerbocker magazine in 1858 told a fictional story of a woman, Melissa, who murdered her tutor who did not return her love, by abandoning him in the cave without a lamp. | WIKI |
| According to the story, Melissa goes back into the cave fifteen years later to end her misery. | WIKI |
| Melissa is pure fiction, but author Blake did visit Mammoth Cave with her husband Frank Umsted, "traveling by train, steamer, and stagecoach". | WIKI |
| Mammoth Cave is the most extensive cave system in the world, with over 285 miles (458 km) of surveyed cave passageways within the property (and at least another 80 miles [128 km] outside the property). | UNESCO |
| Nearly every type of cave formation is known within the site, the product of karst topography. | UNESCO |
| The flora and fauna of Mammoth Cave is the richest cave-dwelling wildlife known, with more than 130 species within the cave system. | UNESCO |
| Criterion (vii): Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world. | UNESCO |
| The long passages with huge chambers, vertical shafts, stalagmites and stalactites, splendid forms of beautiful gypsum flowers, delicate gypsum needles, rare mirabilite flowers and other natural features of the cave system are all superlative examples of their type. | UNESCO |
| No other known cave system in the world offers a greater variety of sulfate minerals. | UNESCO |
| Criterion (viii): Mammoth Cave exhibits 100 million years of cave-forming action and presents nearly every type of cave formation known. | UNESCO |
| Today, this huge and complex network of cave passages provides a clear, complete and accessible record of the worldxe2x80x99s geomorphic and climatic changes. | UNESCO |
| Outside the cave, the karst topography is superb, with fascinating landscapes and all of the classic features of a karst drainage system: vast recharge area, complex network of underground conduits, sink holes, cracks, fissures, and underground rivers and springs. | UNESCO |
| Criterion (x): The flora and fauna of the cave is the richest caverniculous wildlife known, numbering over 130 species, of which 14 species of troglobites and troglophiles are known only to exist here. | UNESCO |
| With nearly 500 km of surveyed cave passageways within the property and over 21,000 hectares above ground, the property is large enough to offer a high level of protection to the outstanding universal value for which it was inscribed. | UNESCO |
| Mammoth Cave and its karst terrain face threats and challenges, most of which are from external sources. | UNESCO |
| Because large portions of the Mammoth Cave watershed lie outside park boundaries, activities conducted in these privately-owned areas greatly influence water quality and quantity within the park. | UNESCO |
| The integrity of Mammoth Cave has been strengthened as a result of five significant measures that have been taken since Mammoth Cave National Park was inscribed in 1981:xc2xa0 an updated General Management Plan in 1983; the establishment of the Mammoth Cave Area International Biosphere Reserve in 1990 and subsequent expansion in 1996;xc2xa0 a regional sewage system, installed in the early 1990s, which serves both the park and three adjacent communities; xc2xa0the establishment of the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning in 2004; and the discovery and mapping of 140 additional miles (225 km) of cave passageways over the past 31 years. | UNESCO |
| The regional sewer system has greatly increased protection of the parkxe2x80x99s sensitive cave system by servicing most of the areas that drain into the Mammoth Cave. | UNESCO |
| The 1996 expansion of the Mammoth Cave Area Biosphere Reserve to 367,993 hectares has also played an important role in securing the propertyxe2x80x99s integrity and maintaining water quality. | UNESCO |
| The Biosphere Reserve now includes all or portions of six counties near Mammoth Cave National Park, encompassing the ecologically sensitive hydrological recharge area for Mammoth Cave National Park as well as a large interaction zone. | UNESCO |
| In 2004, the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning was established through a partnership between Mammoth Cave National Park and Western Kentucky University. | UNESCO |
| The learning center has contributed to xe2x80x9csister parkxe2x80x9d agreements with other World Heritage sites (China and Slovenia) that protect cave and karst resources. | UNESCO |
| Designated by the U.S. Congress in 1941 as a national park, Mammoth Cave National Park is managed under the authority of the Organic Act of August 25, 1916 which established the United States National Park Service. | UNESCO |
| In addition, the National Park Service has established Management Policies which provide broader direction for all National Park Service units, including Mammoth Cave. | UNESCO |
| Approximately 600,000 people visit the property each year, and 400,000 of those tour Mammoth Cave. | UNESCO |
| Access to the cave is strictly controlled and visitation is confined to 10 miles of developed passageway. | UNESCO |