Vrtare Male is a pit cave located near Dramalj, a seaside village in Croatia.

[2] This prompted further cave expeditions, starting in 2005, and the establishment of a protected area around Vrtare Male.

[5] In 2007, Croatian Natural History Museum organized a palaeontological expedition in Vrtare Male, led by Jalžić, recovering the remains of several specimens of Pleistocene megafauna on the submerged cave floor.

The specimens included, among others, a cave lion, one of the largest discovered at the time;[6][7] a specimen of southern mammoth, a cave bear, a Merck's rhinoceros, a steppe bison and dire wolves, as well as extinct relatives of fallow deer and horses.

[7][8] Panthera Spelaea, a documentary film about Vrtare Male directed by Marin Leko, accompanied the opening of the exhibition in Crikvenica.