Photographic essay makes stop at Oglebay
The photographic essay titled “Caves: A Fragile Wilderness,” takes visitors underground, underwater and deep within glacial ice for a look at some of the most unique creatures and spectacular geological features on Earth. Comprised of 39 color photos developed by the Smithsonian Institute to compliment its presentation of the IMAX film “Journey into a Cave,” the exhibit is making its first stop on a national tour at the Schrader Center at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, W. Va. The often spectacular photo series, taken by 23 members of the National Speleological Society, is grouped into subjects such as entrances, passages, formations, and life in caves.
Steve Gerkin, director of environmental education, discovered the exhibit on the Smithsonian Web site and relayed its availability to Dr. Fred Lambert, president of the Oglebay Institute, who told him to “see if he could bring it to Wheeling.”
Soon after Gerkin filed the 29-page application three months ago, Oglebay was named the inaugural site of the exhibit.
“We’re very proud to have our very first Smithsonian exhibit here at the Schrader Center,” said Gerkin. “The site is a very appropriate venue because of our focus on nature, the environment and ecology.”
The cave-themed photos line the walls of the Center’s Earth Trek Exhibit Hall, where permanent installations such as computer stations, hands-on and static displays and audio stations are designed to showcase the Earth’s environment and explain what steps man can take to protect it.
“Caves can be found in every state and most countries,” reads a section of one of the exhibit’s six text panels.
Although they can form in rock, lava or in ice, most form in limestone or other sedimentary rock.
One photo, titled “Blue Passage,” the exhibit’s unofficial photographic logo at Oglebay, was taken at a cave in Washington and shows a semicircular blue and white opening with a huge ice column in the center.
To the side, a human figure is shown, dwarfed by the massive ice-lined opening.
Several photos underscore the fact that openings are not always horizontal to the earth’s surface. For instance, in “Neversink,” taken in a cave in Alabama, several rappellers are seen entering a cave by ropes through a sun-shrouded hole on the surface.
No two caves are the same. Some are dry as a desert; others are humid as a rainforest. Some openings are bare rock, while others are covered in mud. Many are elaborately decorated and sparkle with crystals. All have one thing in common, however, their interiors are enveloped in complete darkness.
Even so, caves support a wide variety of living creatures, “troglodytes” who’ve developed special adaptations to survive in extreme conditions.
Living in darkness, these creatures share common features such as loss of eyes and color pigmentation, extra long antennae and appendages, as well as reduced size and reproduction rates.
Because they cannot survive outside a cave environment, they are especially susceptible to pollution.
Photos of a pair of blind animals – a cave fish in Kentucky and a salamander in Texas – show eerie, albino versions of their above-ground sighted cousins. “Proteus,” a photo taken in a cave in Slovenia, gives an up-close look at one of the strange creatures – a long, curvaceous, pinkish salamander with a crocodile-like snout and feathery “gills” on its neck.
The animal’s two minuscule legs seem too small to propel it over the rock-strewn floor of the cave it calls home.
Bats, however, are one type of sighted animal that leave their cave homes to feed. In a photo titled “Mexican Fruit Bats,” a dozen or so menacing-looking creatures stare straight into the camera lens as they dangle upside down from the roof of their cave.
Greg Park, naturalist at Oglebay, said he once discovered a previously unidentified species of beetle while exploring the caves of Mercer County, W.Va., as part of a senior independent study project at Concord College. Living in a completely dark environment, the beetle adapted to cave life by shedding its eyes and much of its skin pigment and developing long antennae and hairs on its back to feel rather than see its way through its habitat. It also had developed a heightened sense of balance, touch and smell to aid in its search for food.
“At the time I didn’t know the beetle was a new species,” said Park. “After I sent it to a specialist, he identified it as a new discovery.”
The beetle, incidentally, was named Pseudoanopthalmus parki, after its discoverer.
During the run of the show, Park plans to exhibit some of his own photos of caves he’s explored in Ohio and West Virginia at the Schrader Center. He will also speak to the public on cave biology from 3:30 to 5 p. m. on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Unfortunately, cave formations which take centuries to create can be destroyed by a single mindless gesture.
Once damaged or destroyed, they can never be replaced. Carelessness, ignorance and vandalism can quickly and permanently damage a cave, its formations, its environment and its indigenous plants and animals.
“With our ties to environmental education and ecological issues, the Schrader Center is an apt venue for this engrossing and informative Smithsonian exhibit on caves,” said Park.
“Caves: A Fragile Wilderness” is at the Schrader Center through Jan. 4. Admission is $2 per person, $5 for families, which also includes admission to the Schrader Center exhibits.
Hours are from noon until 5 p.m. Monday thorough Saturday. For additional information, phone 304-242-6855.