Natural Trap Cave

The cave is located northeast of Lovell, Wyoming, at an elevation of . It is a bell-shaped pit or sinkhole within the Madison Limestone, deep, with an opening at the top, and a diameter of around at the bottom. ==Early explorations==

The first investigation of its animal remains was initiated in 1970 by Lawrence Loendorf of the University of Missouri, who initially collected some fossils, and began an excavation in 1971. Besides bones, one Native American red jasper knife was found below the entrance drop, and a wooden artifact, possibly an atlatl shaft, was discovered in a rat's nest below some talus. In 1972, Carol Jo Rushin of the University of Montana with a grant from the National Speleological Society and a four-person team and logistical support provided by Dr. Loendorf, excavated a pit at the bottom of the entrance drop, southwest of the pit excavated in 1971. The pit was dug to a depth of . Late Pleistocene to recent bones from 20 species of mammals and five bird species were recovered, including a dire wolf, ancient horse, and mammoth. Rushin's Master's thesis addressed the interpretive, anthropologic, paleontologic, and geologic aspects of the cave. A short article regarding this research also appeared in the December 1972 issue of the National Speleological Society News. Further excavations were conducted throughout the 1970s by the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas. Small mammals whose remains have been found in the cave include pikas, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits, marmots, chipmunks, Peromyscus mice, woodrats, Microtus voles, and collared lemmings. Larger mammals represented in the cave include Canis species, red foxes, short-faced bears, weasels, martens, wolverines, American cheetahs, American lions, Equus species, Camelops, deer, antilocaprids, bison, bighorn sheep, and mammoths. Remains of the American cheetah are particularly abundant in the cave. ==2014 explorations==

The entrance to the pit was covered with a safety grille by the Bureau of Land Management for almost thirty years. In July–August 2014, a team of scientists of Des Moines University, led by Julie Meachen, a paleontologist specializing in Pleistocene megafauna, explored the hole over a period of two weeks. This was the first of three annual digs planned from 2014 to 2016. The cave remains at temperatures below and has 98% humidity, which is conducive for the preservation of viable genetic material for analysis. The team has extracted samples which will be analysed by the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide for fragments of mitochondrial DNA. ==References==