Cave

* Land
* Ocean (S2)
* Desert
* Desert Skull
* Ocean (S1)

## Release info

The **Cave** is a large type of hiding spot that appears in the Land, Ocean and Desert biomes that has more space than a normal hiding hole. It was released in the Mini Winter Update of December 31, 2020.

## Technical

* The cave spawns in Land, Desert and Ocean biomes. In the Land and Desert, cave entrances will be anywhere, while in the Ocean they are specifically located at islands.
* All animals from tiers 1 to 16 (Mouse to Dino Monster) can use them; every animal except Black Dragon and King Dragon. AI Animals also cannot use the cave.
* Caves are not entered like other forms of hiding holes; they have a single small entrance, and when entering through there, the full hiding hole area will become visible. Outside of the cave, its full expanse will be covered by the rest of the ground.
* Inside a cave, the player's water, lava or energy bar decreases when the player is inside the cave, but at a slower rate.
* The player will be able to see all other animals that are using the cave, and vice versa. Unlike most other hiding spots, other animals inside the cave can physically affect the player, but cannot damage or be damaged by them.
	+ For instance, two animals near the entrance of a cave can block every other animal inside until they die of dehydration.
* Boosting does not work inside caves.

### Air

* In the cave, there is an air bar that will slowly go down over time.
* When the cave is at less than 20% capacity (i.e. if it has multiple animals using it), all players that are occupying it will begin to take suffocation damage. All the while, the player's other bar (water/lava/energy) will dwindle as well.
* It takes at least 15 minutes for the cave to run out of air. However, with more players inside, it will take even less time.

## Appearance

The inside of both variants of the cave consists of dark brown circles, which are darker shades on the outside and become lighter towards the middle of the circle. Animals that enter the cave will also have their field of view edged with darkness.

### Land

The Land entrance of the cave has brown ground, and is covered in a large patch of green grass.

### Ocean

The Oceanic entrance of the cave is blue, being covered by the sand of an island.

### Desert

The Desert cave's entrance is covered in dry yellow ground, and the bottom of the cave has the same color pattern as a regular hiding hole, except it is yellow rather than brown.

## Strategy

* The cave is a less reliable hiding spot in contrast to the hiding hole or whirlpool, and as such should not be used unless absolutely necessary.
	+ This is because unlike hiding holes, with caves, a predator can trap the player inside a cave due to caves allowing animals to move each other around inside. In this scenario, the player will have to out-maneuver their opposition to avoid dying from suffocation.
	+ Since the cave only has one entrance, if the player does use a cave, they should stay near its entrance to make a quick escape if needed.
	+ Caves are normally unoccupied, and the player will rarely see more than two animals inside at a time. If the player is trapped with another player inside, however, the player will need to either work with the other trapped animal to push the blocking player out of the cave, or sneak out of the cave when the blocker is distracted with the other player/s.
* As previously stated, the cave's downside is that predators can trap their prey inside. The player can use this to their advantage if prey enters a cave by guarding the exit until the prey dies and produces meat.
	+ To gain the full amount of XP if the player traps someone in a cave, a riskier option is to let the prey player leave the cave when the prey's health bar is reduced to nearly nothing, and then kill the prey when it leaves to try and find a water spot. This strategy will not work for caves that are located in a river, however.
* Alternatively, the player can try to trap a predator in a cave if a predator enters before the player. This might be a little harder since the predator may be larger than the player, depending on which animal is being used.
* If the player does need to use a cave as a last resort of not dying, they should be sure to fill up on water pods just before entering the cave. That way, if a predator tries to camp at the cave's entrance, the predator will most likely need to go back for water before the player will.

## Gallery

### Assets

The Land variety of the cave.The top of the Land caveThe bottom of the Land cave.The current Season 2 Ocean variety of the cave.The top of the Season 2 Ocean cave.The bottom of the Season 2 Ocean cave.The Desert variety of the cave.The top of the Desert caveThe bottom of the Desert cave.The old Ocean variety of the cave.The top of the Season 1 Ocean cave.The bottom of the Season 1 Ocean cave.
### In-game

KOA as a Pakistani Macaw, near the entrance of an Ocean cave.KOA as a Pakistani Macaw inside an Ocean cave.A Desert cave that is being used by a Giant Scorpion, Pterodactyl, White Tiger and Pakistani Macaw.An Ocean cave entrance, covered by a tree and other foods.A Desert Rat inside a cave in the Desert.A Shrub Rhino charging near the entrance of a Land cave.
## History

 June 21, 2021: Hotfix 2.5 | * Bug fix: Animals that are above caves that are underneath a river will not lose water anymore.
 February 16, 2021: Redemption/Accounts Update | * Bug fix: Mother Ostrich can command its babies to enter caves again.
 January 15, 2021 | * Bug fix: Mother Ostrich can command its babies to enter caves again.
 January 2, 2021 | * Bug fix: Caves do not affect boosting when players exit it anymore.
 December 31, 2020: Mini Winter Update | * Added.

## Trivia

* The cave is the only type of hiding spot alongside the igloo in which animals can be barricaded inside.