Inside the vast Chinese caves where SARS may have originated and a new species of flesh-eating fungus has been discovered
- There are countless kilometres of claustrophobia-inducing underground caves in Yunnan, full of bats and home to a newly discovered species of fungus
Southwest China is riddled with caves. The sheer number of them means most remain unexplored, despite caving becoming increasingly popular in China. The cave system is home to all sorts of wildlife, and now one more previously unknown species has been added to the list.
Dr Peter Mortimer, a South African mycologist and professor at Kunming Institute of Botany, is an accomplished caver and climber and he took us down one of his projects about 20km north of Kunming – Yanzi Dong, or Swallow Cave.
Rappelling using a climbing rope took us into the main chamber of the cave. Ropes are the preferable mode of transport to scrambling down a rotten tree trunk dropped into the shaft, as locals used to do to harvest stalagmites in the cave. Delicate Xylaria fungus now covers the trunk entirely, its fluorescent glow in the headlamp made the descent feel like a dive into oceanic depths.
Spooked bats flapped around and the air was thick with the smell of their excrement. Down on the floor, masses of ghostly white millipedes feasted on thick piles of bat droppings. On the walls, cave leeches tried to creep up on the sleeping bats. In the light of headlamps the leeches looked blue.
Mortimer found a fluffy white ball with bones sticking out of it – a dead bat being devoured by a fungus. He packed the carcass into a plastic bag.
