Mysterious ancient forest discovery could contain unknown species

A massive sinkhole in China, home to an ancient forest, could harbour species yet to be discovered.

In 2022, Chinese scientists in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region uncovered the 630-foot-deep sinkhole, which contains trees towering up to 130 feet.

Discovered by cave explorers, the forest thrives in an unexpected pocket of sunlight, thanks to a gap in the sinkhole's canopy. This rare landscape, part of a karst formation, was shaped over time as water eroded the surrounding bedrock.

Zhang Yuanha, a senior engineer at the Institute of Karst Geology, told local media that three caves were also discovered in the forest.

Chen Lixin, who led the cave expedition team has now suggested the forest could have animals unknown to science.

He said: "I wouldn’t be surprised to know that there are species found in these caves that have never been reported or described by science until now."

The executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) in the US, a sister organisation of the China Geological Survey, George Veni said: "Not only do sinkholes and caves offer refuge for life, they are also a conduit to aquifers or deep stores of underground water.

"Karst aquifers provide the sole or primary water source for 700 million people worldwide. But they're easily accessed and drained — or polluted.

"They are the only types of aquifers that you can pollute with solid waste.

"I've pulled car batteries and car bodies and barrels of God-knows-what and bottles of God-knows-what out of the active cave stream."

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