Coconut Crab anyone ???

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Welcome to your beach nightmare: this giant crab eats coconuts, kittens, and even people

Professor Mark Laidre holds a live adult coconut crab in its native habitat on an Indian Ocean coral atoll. (Photo courtesy of National Geographic Society)

A tourist holds a massive coconut crab discovered on Australia's Christmas Island. Photo by Christmas Island Tourism Association/Facebook

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The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a species of terrestrial hermit crab and the largest terrestrial arthropod. Adults weigh about as much as a healthy cat.

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Giant Coconut Crab Caught on Camera Attacking And Eating a Seabird

If you thought the new freshwater plague of testicle eating fish was scary, now you've got a reason to be terrified of the beach too. Meet the coconut crab, the humongous, flesh-eating hermit crab strong enough to crack coconuts... and some are saying it's what killed, and ate, Amelia Earhart.

When it comes to "terrestrial arthropods", which just a fancy way of saying "really big bugs that live on land", the coconut crab is the largest of them all. Very closely related to the favorite housepet of ten year olds, the hermit crab, these monstrous crustaceans can grow up to three feet across, weigh over nine pounds, and can easily live twenty years or more. As you can imagine, their name comes from a steady diet of coconut, but they've also been known to chow down on household pets, chickens, other coconut crabs... and even people.

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According to Environmental Graffiti, these horrible little creatures might even be the monsters that ate Amelia Earhart after her fateful crash on a remote atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

In 1940, researchers discovered a fraction of a skeleton on the island that matched the description of Amelia Earhart. Now, even more interesting clues are arising that seem to substantiate the idea that this is where she met her demise. The most compelling hypothesis currently under consideration is that coconut crabs overwhelmed her where she lay.

Researchers carried out an experiment to validate whether the coconut crabs had a part in her demise.


Back in 2007, they used a small pig carcass to assess what the coconut crabs might have done. The bones were removed very quickly and scattered, according to Patricia Thrasher, TIGHAR’s president.

Yikes. After all that, would you believe that some people keep this guys as pets? Apparently, they're pretty well behaved... so long as you keep them well fed.

Luckily, your chances of running into them in North America are pretty slim. They tend to live in the islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans where humans are more scarce (their meaty bodies make good eatin'), but it's not uncommon to run into them in Southern Florida... so make sure you keep Fido on a leash the next time you visit the Keys.

https://maps.roadtrippers.com/stori...nt-crab-eats-coconuts-kittens-and-even-people

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab







The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper size limit for terrestrial animals with exoskeletons in recent times, with a weight up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb). It can grow to up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in length from leg to leg. It is found on islands across the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands and Pitcairn Islands, mirroring the distribution of the coconut palm; it has been extirpated from most areas with a significant human population, including mainland Australia and Madagascar.

The coconut crab is the only species of the genus Birgus, and is related to the terrestrial hermit crabs of the genus Coenobita. It shows a number of adaptations to life on land. Like other hermit crabs, juvenile coconut crabs use empty gastropod shells for protection, but the adults develop a tough exoskeleton on their abdomens and stop carrying a shell. Coconut crabs have organs known as branchiostegal lungs, which are used instead of the vestigial gills for breathing, and they will drown if immersed in water for long. They have an acute sense of smell, which has developed convergently with that of insects, and which they use to find potential food sources.

Adult coconut crabs feed primarily on fruits, nuts, seeds, and the pith of fallen trees, but they will eat carrion and other organic matter opportunistically. Anything left unattended on the ground is a potential source of food, which they will investigate and may carry away - thereby getting the alternative name of "robber crab." The species is popularly associated with the coconut palm, yet coconuts are not a significant part of its diet. Although it lives in a burrow, the crab has been filmed climbing coconut and pandanus trees. No film shows a crab selectively picking coconut fruit, though they might dislodge ripe fruit that otherwise would fall naturally. Climbing is an immediate escape route (if too far from the burrow) to avoid predation (when young) by large sea birds, or cannibalism (at any age) by bigger, older crabs.

Mating occurs on dry land, but the females return to the edge of the sea to release their fertilised eggs, and then retreat back up the beach. The larvae that hatch are planktonic for 3–4 weeks, before settling to the sea floor, entering a gastropod shell and returning to dry land. Sexual maturity is reached after about 5 years, and the total lifespan may be over 60 years. In the 3–4 weeks that the larvae remain in the sea, their chance of reaching another suitable location is enhanced if they find a floating life support system. Floating logs or rafts of storm-struck vegetation likely would be suitable, although rather chancy and definitely seasonal. In contrast, floating coconuts can be a very significant part of the crab's dispersal options.[4]

 

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‘Pretty gruesome’: giant coconut crab seen hunting birds

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Researcher in remote Chagos Islands says he saw crabs, previously thought to be scavengers, hunting and killing seabird


A large, land-dwelling crustacean known as a coconut or robber crab has been seen hunting and killing a seabird, the first time such behaviour has been observed in the species.

The phenomenon was witnessed by a researcher, Mark Laidre of Dartmouth College, while he was studying the giant crabs in the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, New Scientist reported.

According to Laidre, the crab climbed a tree and attacked the seabird in its nest situated on a branch close to the ground. The crab broke the bird’s wing, causing it to fall out of its nest and then took to the bird with its claws, breaking its other wing and leaving it incapacitated.

Once the bird was unable to move, other coconut crabs arrived and pulled the bird apart in scenes Laidre described as “pretty gruesome”.

Coconut crabs are the largest land-dwelling invertebrate. They can weigh up to 4kg and grow up to one metre wide. They are common in coral atolls across the Indian and Pacific Oceans and can be the largest animal in their environment.

The crab’s behaviour of actively hunting and killing a large, vertebrate animal has never been witnessed before and has significant implications for how the crabs may affect their island ecosystems.

Previously thought to be scavengers, Laidre’s discovery suggests the crabs may dominate their ecosystems and could discourage other animals, particularly seabirds, from inhabiting islands where they would be forced to nest on the ground.

Further research by Laidre goes some way to confirming this hypothesis. He conducted surveys that found that birds were less likely to live on islands where coconut crabs lived, and vice versa.

Whether this behaviour is a one-off or widespread remains to be seen. Laidre plans to set up remotely activated cameras at entrances to the crabs’ burrows to find out.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/10/giant-coconut-crab-seen-hunting-birds

 

[futureshock]

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Meet the coconut crab, the humongous, flesh-eating hermit crab strong enough to crack coconuts... and some are saying it's what killed, and ate, Amelia Earhart.

​

According to Environmental Graffiti, these horrible little creatures might even be the monsters that ate Amelia Earhart after her fateful crash on a remote atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

 

[BDR]

Give me a big ass pot of boiling water, old bay seasoning and some butter..

 

[DADDY4HOES]

Fry that bitch up right and I'll show him who has the biggest nuts

 

[CptMARVEL]

Give me a big ass pot of boiling water, old bay seasoning and some butter..

Yep.
I don't give a damn how big they get.
Them mofos look like GOOD EATIN' to me....

 

[55th View]

Thought this was bullshit, til i Youtube'd it.

I agree. Looks a a lobster/king crab night if the Old Bay is on deck!

 

[sinsay]

Man that bad boy is going right into the steam pot

 

[Aww Skeet Skeet!]

 

[xxxbishopxxx]

 

[theteacher]

these horrible little creatures might even be the monsters that ate Amelia Earhart
after her fateful crash on a remote atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

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[yaBoi]

 

[Coldchi]

lets see how it would fare against a big pot of boiling water.

 

[sinistercane]

Creepy mofos look like armored cover spiders

 

[Hey Julian!]

You ever had a beef rib and said to yourself, "This might be too big"

Yeah.

 

[3rd__Optic]

^^^

 

[RoomService]

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cooking+coconut+crab

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

 

[Mello Mello]

Big ass crab gotta knock its ass out with a big acme mallet.

 

[jorush]

We ain’t the baddest on the planet!

 

[Star]