Biologist and photographer Francesco Tomasinelli is willing to go where few others are: damp caves where the floors, walls and ceilings are crawling with living creatures.
Once there, he pauses to take beautiful and unusual photographs. He has captured giant cockroaches eating a dead bat, a snail slowly attacking a moth, and walls blanketed with crawling insects. Needless to say, the subjects of his images include endless numbers of spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and all manner of creatures that are the stuff of nightmares.
Tomasinelli says, “We are not used to considering small insects and specialized spiders that live in caves as noteworthy animals. But in recent years it has been discovered that these organisms can give us valuable indications to better understand the effects of climate change on ecosystems.” He was involved in a project called CAVELAB and has photographed in caves in Italy and Borneo.
Having always been fascinated by nature, especially by weird, neglected animals, he travels the world seeking out insects, arachnids, reptiles, amphibians, and even carnivorous plants.
