Video

American University biologist David Culver studies animals that live in caves -- arthropods, snails, bats and salamanders to name just a few. These animals are highly adapted to living in their unique environment -- an environment typically void of light. Morphologically many cave animals are blind and have no pigment, appearing translucent. Much to Culver's surprise, tiny cave-like arthropods, strange shrimp-like animals, also live in seepage springs or "wet spots" of Rock Creek Park in urban Washington, D.C. How these animals got there and how they manage to survive is a puzzle he's trying to figure out.