Fossil Goldmine in Wyoming Reopened to Scientists after 30 Years

Paleontologists are gearing up for the reopening of one of North America's most remarkable troves of late Pleistocene fossils, a cave that hasn't been visited in 30 years.

Natural Trap Cave in north-central Wyoming is 85 feet deep - almost impossible to see until you're standing right next to it - and houses thousands of fossils from the Pleistocene Era. According to The Associated Press (AP), over the course of tens of thousands of years, numerous animals plunged to their deaths for failing to notice the 15-foot-wide opening. This includes now-extinct mammoths, short-faced bears and American lions and cheetahs.

But the US Bureau of Land Management has decided to reopen the metal gate currently closing off the cave's entrance so that scientists can observe the many critters that roamed the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains during the planet's last glacial period around 25,000 years ago.

Unfortunately for scientists, the only way to gain access to these fossils is to rappel down to the cave floor - an eight-story drop.

"I'm pretty terrified," Des Moines University paleontologist Julie Meachen told the AP.

Not to mention that temperatures in this fossil trove are around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity is around 98 percent - a pretty cold and clammy environment.

"One can only hope that, as a researcher, you're able to leave," quipped Brent Breithaupt, a regional paleontologist with the Bureau of Land Management, to the AP.

But for these scientists, the risk seems to be worth it. Some mammal remains from the cave could be over 100,000 years old, Breithaupt added.

And while the cold environment is unpleasant for researchers, it's perfect for preserving the fossils. Co-investigator Alan Cooper with the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide will attempt to retrieve fragments of mitochondrial DNA from the bones, Meachen said. Such analysis just wasn't possible the last time scientists were down there.

After three decades, researchers will be revisiting the cave and will extract as many fossils as they can. They will start their work Monday and continue to do so over a two-week period of time. A National Science Foundation grant will also enable additional excavations in 2015 and 2016.

A similar unveiling occurred just last month, Nature World News recently reported, when officials reopened the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles - allowing the public once again to observe fossils at the excavation site after being closed for 20 years.