With droplet upon droplet of water – a mighty tool in the hands of Mother Nature –limestone has been sculpted for millions of years. And some of her most wonderful works are on display in the subterranean kingdom of Postojna Cave.
Water has produced breathtaking phenomena, such as the enormous Concert Hall Cave, with its excellent acoustics, a mighty underground mountain, and ponds with crystal clear water. Among the tiny splashing of droplets, in the underground waters, surrounded by eternal darkness, live the Postojna Cave’s most famous inhabitant – the olm.
The olm, also known as Proteus (Proteus anguinus), or ‘human fish’ in certain languages, is a particular kind of amphibian. The only European cave-dwelling vertebrate lives in the subterranean waters of the Dinaric Karst. It is the only member of the Proteidae family (genus Proteus) in Europe, while its remote ‘cousins’ live in surface waters in the eastern United States of America.
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