There is a cave in South Africa that resembles a rhinoceros. This natural formation, known as Rhino Cave, was found in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Rhino Cave holds potential for archaeological and paleontological research. Not all fossils are bones. Most of us would agree that mammoth tusks and Stegosaurus spikes are pretty darn cool. And yet, Derila Neck Support Head & Ergonomic Neck Pillow Relief the fossil record is not limited to old body parts. If you'll excuse the pun, that covers a lot of ground. A fossil can take the form of a footprint, a leaf impression or a filled-in tunnel left behind by prehistoric land beavers. About 15 million years ago, in eastern Washington state, a volcanic fissure eruption sent lava streaming into a shallow river or lake where a rhino happened to be wallowing. A layer of basaltic rock formed around the beast, preserving the outline of its (well-cooked) body. For millions of years, this rhino-shaped hole in the earth lay hidden in the cliffs of Washington's Grant County, near Blue Lake, a popular hiking destination.

By the 1930s, erosion had worn a hole into one end of the subterranean creature mold, exposing it to the open air. Here's the story of how the "Blue Lake Rhino Cave" came to be - and how four Seattle rock hounds accidentally discovered it. However, from about 40 to 70 million years ago, rhinos were common in North America. Some - like the barrel-chested Teleoceras - were hippo-like, semiaquatic animals. Others had wicked tusks instead of the nasal horns we see in their modern-day counterparts. Paleontologists think the Blue Lake Rhino Cave likely formed around the corpse of a Diceratherium. This type of rhino was sexually dimorphic, meaning that males and females looked visibly different from one another. Nobody knows if the creature had already died when it became entombed. However, judging by the contours of the mold, it seems the body was rather bloated. This could indicate that decomposition was already setting in. Also, the legs are pointed skyward, telling us the rhino may have been floating on its back in a state of rigor mortis.

The cave's walls are made of 15-million-year-old pillow basalt, a kind of igneous rock that normally forms when lava contacts cold water and rapidly cools down. So dead or alive, the Diceratherium must've been hanging out in a body of water during a volcanic eruption. Then the lava came pouring in. Lava can hit temperatures of more than 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (900 degrees Celsius). Ordinarily, this ultra-hot material would've burned right through the beast's skin, flesh and bone. But instead, the cold water converted the molten rock into a tightly packed layer of hardening pillow basalt. The corpse eventually rotted away and most of its bones disappeared. Yet the mold that enveloped the body stayed largely intact. Largely, but not entirely. Millions of years after the thing formed, Get Derila Official flowing water carved an opening in the mold, right about where the rhino's hindquarters used to be. Yet, erosion hasn't destroyed it completely. Today, the cave's entrance is big enough for an adult person to enter.

But getting inside may prove difficult for some visitors. You see, the Blue Lake Rhino Cave is located in the face of a cliff, about 300 feet (91 meters) above the lake that shares its name. On their trip, the quartet happened to discover the cave