John Moretti donned a wetsuit and found Ice Age animals in a Texas cave

Paleontologist John Moretti (left) and caver John Young after exploring Bender’s Cave. Image Credit: John Moretti The discovery beneath Bender’s Cave in central Texas began in an underground stream where fossils lay hidden beneath the water. John A. Moretti, a palaeontologist at the University of Texas in Austin, and caver John Young investigated bones preserved in the water-filled passages of the cave. Their study published in 'Quaternary Research' in March 2026, identified a diverse collection of Late Pleistocene (Ice Age) animals, including several species previously unknown from the Edwards Plateau. The findings also raise the possibility that some of the fossils came from a much warmer period before the last Ice Age.How John Moretti found Ice Age animals beneath Bender’s CaveBender’s Cave lies in Comal County, Texas, within the limestone of the Edwards Plateau. Unlike a typical fossil site, much of the cave contains an active underground stream connected to the Trinity Aquifer and the Guadalupe River basin. According to the study, researchers reached the cave by descending through narrow sinkholes before following passages containing flowing water.The cave had already been exp...