© 2025
In touch with the world ... at home on the High Plains
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our translator station serving St. Francis and Cheyenne County at 96.3 FM is off the air due to an air conditioning breakdown at its leased transmitter site, making it too hot for HPPR's equipment to operate. We are currently working to fix the situation. We apologize for the loss of service and ask listeners to tune to KZNK at 90.1 FM or listen on line through the player above or HPPR's mobile app.

Caves of California Parks Yield Tiny Discoveries

Sequoia National Park in California may be famous for its massive trees, but some very tiny creatures that live there are also making news. Biologists have discovered new species of spiders, millipedes, and other critters deep in the underground caves of the park.

So far, reports Sasha Khokha of member station KQED, scientists have discovered 27 new species in caves throughout Central California, at Sequoia and at Kings Canyon National Park. They found creatures so tiny they couldn't pick them up with tweezers. Some had to be collected on the delicate ends of a paintbrush.

The spiders and centipedes were pickled and shipped off to taxonomists all around the world. The experts have confirmed that while these little creatures may be close to relatives above ground, they've adapted into completely different species. Now, the next task is to give all of them names.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Sasha Khokha