Brazil – a tropical paradise and home to some of the best athletes in the world.
Known as the largest country in both South America and Latin America, the nation boasts
a beautiful culture and stunning scenery.
Brazil is home to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, and the awe-inspiring Corcovado and
Sugarloaf Mountains.
Travelers and explorers will find a wonderful slate of fauna such as the giant anteater,
several varieties of sloths, armadillos, otters, and even capybara in the country.
However, Brazil appears to have more than meets the eye.
In this case, even the country has its own share of mysteries.
In 2010, geologist Amilcar Adamy found what appears to be a giant hole a few miles north
of the Bolivian border.
Upon investigation, he realized that the holes could not have been naturally made.
As a geologist, Adamy has been to his fair share of caves in Brazil.
None of them looked like anything these tunnels featured, including the round passages with
smooth floors.
None of these caves, even those near this particular tunnel, had these features.
Adamy works in the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, one of the largest federal
universities in Brazil.
However, it seems the mysterious tunnels have since then been discovered by various experts
around the country.
And it opened up an entirely new realm of possibilities on geological studies.
THE TUNNELS Geologist Heinrich Theodor Frank stumbled
across the tunnels while driving on the national Novo Hamburgo Highway.
What actually caught his attention was a hole of around one meter in diameter at a construction
site.
He discovered that the hole actually led to a complex underground tunnel.
Upon exploration, the tunnel is about 70 centimeters high and a few meters in length, with what
appears to be scratches on the walls.
These underground tunnels appear to have been in existence for over 10,000 years.
Moreover, it seems hundreds of these tunnels actually exist all over Brazil.
The state of Rondonia alone has a large complex of 600 meter-long tunnels.
There are at least 2,000 burrows that have been found around the country as well.
None of the locals, and even experts in the area, know where they have come from or who
made them.
However, tests show that these tunnels are not man-made
in origin.
THE MYSTERIES Urban legends point towards various "historical"
and even supposed "mythological" origins of the mysterious tunnels.
Some say the tunnels were created by indians, Jesuits, slaves, or even revolutionaries.
Others believe the tunnels are a giant anthill, or were even made by bears.
Very rare few point towards a great mythological serpent that may have used the tunnel as its
home.
Regardless, geological evidence alone proves that the tunnels were not created by Brazilian
natives.
The Indians who lived in Brazil even before the Europeans arrived did not use iron, and
therefore had no means to dig through the hard rocks around the tunnels.
However, according to Frank, there is no natural geological process known to man that can produce
some features of the tunnels.
These include the circular or elliptical cross-sections that branch, rise, and fall around the area.
Not to mention, the geographic distribution of the tunnels opened yet another mystery
to scientists.
For instance, the tunnels were only found in the southern parts of Brazil - particularly
in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.
However, these tunnels are almost nonexistence in northern parts of Brazil.
While there are claw marks on the walls, Frank added that animals such as bears may not even
be the creators of these tunnels.
Prehistoric animals such as giant armadillos or possibly mega-sloths may have been able
to make these tunnels.
The biggest burrows that are five feet in diameter may have been dug by ground sloths.
Fossils of these sloths found in South America suggest they may have adapted to the area’s
environment and developed digging skills.
Giant armadillos, though shorter than sloths, may also have the skills necessary to dig
these tunnels as well.
The grooves along the ceiling may in fact be marks the animals have left whenever they
pause or stop working.
Unfortunately, there are no exact indications of these animals living in the country.
Moreover, the sheer size of the tunnels cannot possibly be made by any kind of “giant”
armadillos or sloths – at least, ones that we know of.
The giant armadillo, the largest existing member of its family, weighs between 65 and
90 pounds and is native to South America.
However, its burrows are about 16 inch in diameter, and only up to 20 feet long.
If the tunnels’ five foot wide and 250-feet long burrows are in fact dug my animals, then
it should be one extremely big creature – one tat has not been discovered yet.
However, it seems there is still another possibility.
HISTORICAL EVIDENCE Frank eventually sent photographs of the tunnels
to Marcelo Rasteiro of the Brazlian Society of Speleology.
He introduced the notion of paleoburrows, or tunnels that are excavated by living organisms
in any geological age.
Examples of these organisms are worms in the Cambrian Era, mollusks in the Mesozoic Era,
or rats in the Pleistocene.
These are all organisms that have lived millions of years ago.
Frank admitted to have never heard of “paleoburrows” in his entire career.
However, he cannot be blamed.
Until the early 2000s, hardly any burrows attributed to extinct animals can be found
in scientific literature.
In fact, it was only in 2015 that Adamy himself had the opportunity to extensively explore
the mysterious tunnels.
If this paleoburrow theory is to be believed, then the tunnels in Brazil may have been created
between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago.
However, scientists have yet to properly date its existence.
If this is the case, then the Rondonia tunnels Frank have discovered may be the first - and
the largest - paleoburrow in the Amazon.
To add more depth to the mystery, these tunnels can actually be found all over the world.
Frank said similar caves that can possibly be paleoburrows can be found in countries
such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.
Others may be convinced that the mysterious tunnels are in fact the so-called paleoburrows.
But until scientists can figure out who, what, or how they were made, then these tunnels
will still remain a mystery.