Just one bag of Cheetos can “change the world.”
A park-goer at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico recently dropped a bag full of Cheetos into the caverns.
That one packet of the dusty orange snack had a “huge impact” on the cave's ecosystem, the park and the environment. The Facebook post said,
“From a human perspective, a dropped snack bag might seem like a minor thing, but for cave life it could be world-changing,” Park said.
The post describes how some accidental impacts may be “difficult or impossible” to prevent, such as people regularly walking between caves, leaving a fine trail of lint behind – but other impacts are “completely avoidable”, such as a bag of snacks falling over.
“This impact is incidental to the owner of the snack bag. But it had a huge impact on the cave's ecosystem,” the post reads.
“The processed corn, softened by the cave's moisture, created the perfect environment for microbial life and fungi. Cave crickets, mites, spiders and flies soon organized into a makeshift food web, spreading nutrients to surrounding caves and structures. The fungi colonized nearby surfaces, fruited, died and stank. And the cycle continued.”
Park rangers reportedly spent 20 minutes removing foreign debris and fungi from the cave's surface, and explained that some members of the ecosystem that came from Cheetos are cave dwellers, “but many of the microorganisms and fungi do not live in the cave.”
The post concluded, “Whether we are big or small, we make an impact wherever we go. Let us join together to make the world a better place than we found it.”
Park website The court said food and drink, except for plain water, are prohibited in the cave because it attracts animals to areas of the cave “not normally frequented by wildlife.”
Carlsbad Caverns National Park follows Cheetos post A post about their 'leave no trace' principle — Specifically to “properly dispose of waste.”
“Contrary to popular belief, this cave is not a giant garbage can,” the post states. “However, rangers walk the trails at the end of each day and pick up any trash left behind.”
