New Zealand's Glow Worms Make Its Caves A Magical Place

There is a village in New Zealand called the Waitomo Caves known for its limestone cave system filled with little insects: glow worms. They may sometimes resemble worms, but all are insects that glow through bioluminescence illuminating the caves and creating an incredibly beautiful sight.

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To achieve the results you see in these photos the exposure time needed range between 30 seconds and 6 minutes. Therefore, photographer Shaun Jeffers, who took these amazing pictures at Waitomo’s Ruakuri Cave, had to submerge himself and his tripod in cold water for about 6-8 hours a day. But the result was worth the effort.

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Benjamin Lloyd, a tattoo artist from New Zealand announced on his Facebook that if he got 50 likes he would make cool temporary tattoos to the children at Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital. He got over 400,000 likes and delivered on his promise. But no one was more delighted than the kids.

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This is what happens on the earth. In spring, but not every year, bioluminescent firefly squid illuminate the Toyama Bay, Japan.

As I live in the city, you may think it is easy for me to encounter the phenomena, but it’s not. For once in my life I succeeded in capturing the stunning show. Even with recent science, nobody can explain when and why the squid come together to show us the marvel.