Hyaena Cave facts for kids

Hyaena Cave is a cool cave located in Gibraltar, a British territory. It's part of a bigger group of caves called the Gorham's Cave complex. This complex is very special and has been suggested to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A World Heritage Site is a place chosen by the United Nations because it has great cultural or natural importance to everyone.

About Hyaena Cave

Hyaena Cave is one of four important caves in the Gorham's Cave complex. The other caves are Vanguard, Gorham's, and Bennett's Cave. These caves are located in Gibraltar, a small country at the southern tip of Spain.

How the Caves Formed

Over thousands of years, Hyaena Cave and the other caves have slowly filled with sand. This sand was blown in by the wind through their entrances. The sand layers have built up to be very deep. For example, in Vanguard Cave and Gorham's Cave, the sand is more than seventeen metres deep!

What the Sand Tells Us

These layers of sand are like a giant history book. They hold clues about what the environment was like a long, long time ago. Scientists can study the sand to learn about the world from 15,000 to 55,000 years ago. Back then, the coastline looked very different. The sea was once over 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles) away from these caves. Today, the sea is very close to the cave entrances.