Hawai'i Nature Squad
Searching for life in a lava tube

Another chapter in the continuing adventures of the Hawai'i Nature Squad as it investigates mysteries and wonders in the environment

"Hey watch your step!" said Capt. Wekiu.

"Sorry," Detective Andy Anole said. "My eyes still haven't adjusted to the darkness."

"Next time, check the batteries in your flashlight," Capt. Wekiu scolded his Hawai'i Nature Squad sidekick. "Good thing I found a candle and matches at the bottom of your curiosity kit."

Suddenly Andy felt cold, wet, stringy things like legs wrapping around his neck! "That's it! I'm out of here!" Andy squealed as he shook free.

Capt. Wekiu held up the candle to illuminate long, stringy roots hanging from the cave ceiling. "Relax, Andy," the captain said. "They're tree roots, probably from the 'ohia trees that grow above this lava cave. And stop messing around. We need to solve this nature mystery and find out if anything lives in a Hawaiian lava tube."

"Does anything live here?" a strange, tiny voice called out from a dark cave crevice. "You terrestrial folks depend on your sense of sight way too much!"

Using the candle, the detectives could barely make out the outline of a translucent, amber-colored cricket on the ceiling of the cave.

"Care for a bite of 'ohia root?" asked the cricket, slowly crawling over to an especially juicy tendril.

"We're on Hawai'i Nature Squad business," said Capt. Wekiu. "Are you as lost as we are?"

"Actually, there's no place I'd rather be," said the cricket. "This cave is my home."

"I try to keep an open mind," said Andy politely, "but why would anyone live in a cold, wet, dark cave?"

"The opportunity was there for food, shelter, so my ancestors, the tree crickets, moved. Or, as human scientists say, they shifted from the surface environment to underground lava caves."

"You don't look like any tree crickets I know," Capt. Wekiu said suspiciously.

"We've evolved," the cricket said with a grin.

"Yes, and adapted. I'm a super example, too," said a gravely voice behind them.

Turning quickly around, Capt. Wekiu and Andy were face to face with a hairy spider with huge jaws. "I'm a wolf spider. I have eyes but I'm blind. The reason is that nature is very efficient. If you don't need something, over time, you lose it."

"That's for sure" continued the pale cricket. "No light means no sight. And no sunshine means we don't need pigment, so our exoskeletons are pale."

"Yup, and sometimes we are even exposed to toxic gases ..." continued the wolf spider.

"Toxic gases?" yelled Andy. "Sorry, fellas, wish we could stay, but our candle is about gone, and you know how helpless us animals with sight can be in a cave!"

"Wait!" yelled the cricket to the detectives, who were slipping and sliding over the rocks and each other in their haste to escape. "You haven't met the blind white millipede or the eyeless, sap-sucking plant hopper!"

Have you seen something unusual in nature that you want the Hawai'i Nature Squad to investigate? Write us a letter with your name, age, school, name of parent(s) and telephone number. Mail it to Hawai'i Nature Squad, c/o Hawai'i Nature Center, 2131 Makiki Heights Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, or fax 955-0116. You may e-mail hawaiinaturecenter@hawaii.rr.com only if you're 13 or older.

"Hawai'i Nature Squad" is written by Kim Welch, Kelly Perry and Ati Jeffers-Fabro of Hawai'i Nature Center, an environmental education organization. It alternates in this spot with "Dr. Gadget's Science Machine."