The Gruta Rei do Mato (MG-3653) is a cave located at the edge of the BR-040 highway, close to the off ramp to the city of

Sete Lagoas Sete Lagoas (meaning 'Seven Lagoons' in Portuguese) is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The municipal area is 537;km² while the population was 241,835 in 2020. Location Sete Lagoas is situated about 70 kilometres from Belo Horizo ...

, in

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. From Sete Lagoas the cave can easily be reached by bus, taxi or car. Sete Lagoas is from Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state.

Name

Gruta Rei do Mato means "Cave of the Forest King" in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. The name divides into ''Gruta'' (cave) and ''Rei do Mato'' (Forest King). According to several local sources, the "Rei do Mato" was a fugitive in either the Gruta Rei do Mato or another cave in the vicinity. According to the authors of ''Dona Brasil'', he lived in a hut near the grotto.

Geology

The

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

area north of Belo Horizonte is called the Sete Lagoas Formation, in which the Lagoa Santa Karst developed. The area around

has many cave systems, of which the Gruta Rei do Mato is the most widely known. The cave has four large chambers with numerous stalactites, stalagmites and rimstone dams. In the "Rarities Hall" are nearly identical parallel columns, formed by the calcium carbonate crystals of calcite. These columns are more than high and in diameter. In the nearby Parque da Cascata is a collapsed karst crater which can be recognised by some stalactites that are oriented horizontally as a result of the collapse. In a small cave next to the Gruta Rei do Mato, 4,000 to 6,000 year old

cave paintings In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 y ...

were discovered, as well as skeletal remains of the ''

Xenorhinotherium ''Xenorhinotherium'' is an extinct genus of macraucheniine macraucheniids, closely related to '' Macrauchenia'' of Patagonia. The type species is ''X. bahiense''.Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

mammal. A replica of this animal can be found in the cave.

References

External links

DonaBrasil.com on Gruta Rei do Mato

Limestone caves Show caves in Brazil Tourist attractions in Minas Gerais Caves of Minas Gerais {{caving-stub

Name

Geology

See also

References

External links