Velika peć na Rogu

The name Velika peć, sometimes written in its Kajkavian form Velika peč, means "Large Cave". The need to distinguish it from caves with the same name led some sources to append the epithet na Rogu, meaning "on Rog". The name Topla peć, sometimes written in its Kajkavian form Topla peč, means "Warm Cave". Sometimes the name is given with the full form of the word for "cave", ''''. ==Description==

The cave is on a steep slope at high elevation relative to the Turopolje plain below, making access difficult and likely explaining the scarcity of human remains. The path was partly a goat path and partly nonexistent before the advent of alpinism. beginning with in 1905, and continuing in SFRJ times, and beyond in RH times, both from a tourist perspective and from a speleological perspective. The cave consists of two parts: • The entrance chamber is long, wide at the entrance but narrowing to at the end, with similarly variable ceiling height, at the entrance but at the end. stalactites and stalagmites. The speleothems are small, but untouched during the 1933 Poljak exploration, which did not note any footprints and concluded they were the first that far back in the cave. The first is long, wide, and about tall. The second is long, up to wide, and tall. Some of the earliest photographs of the cave were published by Josip Poljak in 1933, Mirko Malez in 1991, In the late 1980s, the local mountaineering society PD Lipa published 5 issues of a periodical titled Lipin list, which included information on the cave. The cave is protected as part of the Medvednica Nature Park as cave number S18. Despite being legally closed to the public, the entrance is along a established trail (the Službeni planinarski put 31/32), and a more dangerous approach to the cave. The path to the cave is marked by a sign, so it continues to be visited in that context, and is prominently featured on some tourist maps. But the cave had already been popular with caving societies when they were first being formed in Zagreb, beginning with the visit led by for the PD "Zagreb", which took place in 1947. It is also more specifically within the Područje Lipa-Rog na Medvednici (br. 716). ==Climatology==

The entrance chamber is large enough to be strongly influenced by external temperature variations. In September, the temperature at the back of the appendix was measured at 12 °C in 1933. Hydrology The appendix is characterised by constant dripping of water from the ceiling. ==Geology==

Velika peć formed in a layer of highly folded semicrystalline Carboniferous dolomite. The floor follows the layering, with vertical and atmospheric erosion from younger layers in the geological column. In Poljak's judgement, the cave is tectonic in origin, expanding with groundwater flow. The cliff is not tall, but high enough to have been used occasionally for bouldering, although legal measures to prevent this are in the process of being adopted. ==Paleontology==

The cave was first excavated in 1957 and 1961 by a team led by Mirko Malez, then again in 1987. and the rest was identified by Mirko Malez and colleagues in 1991. fortification on the plateau above it. Paleofauna Fossil remains have been unearthed of rodents, bats, birds, and frogs belonging to 9 families, 15 genera, and 14 species. The postglacial fauna include: Apodemus sylvaticus, Arvicola terrestris, Clethrionomys glareolus, Lagopus lagopus, Lagopus muta, Microtus subterraneus, Rattus norvegicus, Rattus rattus, Stenocranius gregalis, Myotis myotis, Coccothraustes coccothraustes, Columba livia, Picus canus, Sylvia borin, Turdus viscivorus, and Rana arvalis. These had arrived by the Oldest Dryas or the Bølling–Allerød Interstadial. The vertebrate assemblage in this period was almost identical to that found at Veternica and , except for the presence of the Mediterranean species C. livia present thanks to the high elevation and cliff warmth. No older remains have yet been found, although the unearthed specimens have yet to be radiocarbon dated. Myotis myotis portrait.jpg|Myotis myotis Голуб сизий (Columba livia).jpg|Columba livia Rana arvalis Poland (cropped).jpg|Rana arvalis ==Biology==

The entrance of the cave is home to one of the largest Taxus baccata populations on Zagrebačka gora, which as of 1998 were mostly bushy or windswept in form, including one in front of and one right next to the entrance, These trees grow as part of the Tilio-Taxetum association. The entrance flora of the cave was studied in 2011. The cave is a locality for Mesoniscus graniger , collected by the Croatian Biospeleological Society. ==Selected works==

General • • Lipin list. • Paleontology • ==References==