Cave

Ballymaglancy Cave is a 726-metre underground river in County Galway, Ireland, where water cut through Carboniferous limestone to make a dark tube for lesser horseshoe bats. The cave belongs to the living world because those bats still use it, and the law now treats that fact as reason enough to keep the place closed. A person may imagine humans walking its damp length, listening to water strike stone, but the cave no longer needs witness. It has a name, a measure, and a resident, which is more than most proud places can claim.