Carlsbad Caverns National Park, located in New Mexico, is the first cavern national park that I have written about in my research blog. Carlsbad Caverns is a huge cave system that people are free to visit and explore to see its ancient sea ledges, cacti, wildlife, and amazing geology. The intricate cave system has over 100 known caves buried beneath its entrance.

Carlsbad Caverns is home to a surprisingly large amount of wildlife including plants, animals, and insects. This huge range in wildlife is one of its most attractive and unattractive features. The most common animals within the cave are the 17 species of bats that live there. They are very populas. You can also find small rodents such as mice, skunks, raccoons, foxes, weasels, otters, and badgers. Carlsbad also hosts a variety of scary insects such as spiders, centipedes, and millipedes.

A giant desert centipede (Scolopendra heros) devours a grasshopper in the park. This beautiful animal is a very fast and agile predator with a painful and slightly venomous bite. Centipedes feed on insects, other invertebrates, and even small rodents.

There are not many activities that attract visitors to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. However, their main attraction, cave exploration, is plenty exciting alone. The park is open year round for people to tour and explore the cave. There are some parts where visitors can explore at their own pace, and other parts where they must be with a ranger.

I would love to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park one day. I have been caving once when I was little and I thought it was one of the coolest experiences I have had. I would love to plan a trip here in the future.