Naracoorte Caves study shows Australian ice age was wetter, more animal-friendly, than first thought

In short: A new study has found ice ages in Australia were wetter than initially thought, making it a kinder environment for humans and animals. In a system of caves on South Australia's Limestone Coast, researchers have uncovered new information about the coldest times in the continent's history. A new study, published in Nature, from the University of Melbourne and the University of Adelaide used rock sediments from the Naracoorte Caves to give a snapshot of Australia's climate over 350,000 years. "We have an embarrassment of riches in Australia as far as caves go and you can think about them as underground libraries of history," Adelaide University palaeontologist Liz Reed said. "Once you go into a lot of the research that's happened inside these caves you start to realise how exceptional these caves are," he said.