How a hiker's dropped snack wreaked ecological havoc on a cave

A hiker who left a snack behind after exploring a cave wreaked ecological havoc in a New Mexico national park.

When out exploring in nature, the general rule of thumb is to leave no trace that you were ever there, in order to protect the health of the natural environment.

This principle was demonstrated perfectly after a tourist left behind a bag of Cheetos crisps in the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, US.

According to park rangers, who made the discovery on a portion of the Big Room Trail, the snack caused ecological problems that would have spiralled out of control had they not found it.

In a statement on the Carlsbad Caverns park’s Facebook page, they explained: “To the owner of the snack bag, the impact is likely incidental. But to the ecosystem of the cave it had a huge impact.

“The processed corn, softened by the humidity of the cave, formed the perfect environment to host microbial life and fungi. Cave crickets, mites, spiders and flies soon organize into a temporary food web, dispersing the nutrients to the surrounding cave and formations. Molds spread higher up the nearby surfaces, fruit, die and stink. And the cycle continues.”

They went on, explaining that rangers had to spend time removing the foreign object to stop mould from spreading further around the cave, disrupting the natural ecosystem in place there.

“Some members of this fleeting ecosystem are cave-dwellers, but many of the microbial life and molds are not. At the scale of human perspective, a spilled snack bag may seem trivial, but to the life of the cave it can be world changing,” they explained.

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