Crabzillas, giant land crabs

One of the theories about the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart, while attempting to cross the Pacific Ocean in July 1937, is that she managed to reach Gardner Island, one of the Phoenix Islands, 560km (347 miles) south of Howland Island, her intended destination.

According to this fascinating theory, upon reaching the island, already running on fumes, she would observe a huge black ship from the air moored in front of the reef that borders Gardner.

Then Amelia and her navigator Fred Noonan, thinking they were saved, decided to make an emergency splashdown right next to the ship, only to realize, upon leaving the plane, that the ship was broken in half and abandoned.

After reaching land, they found themselves on an island where there is no drinking water, completely uninhabited…

Giant coconut crabs inhabit tropical islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans

Well, completely quninhabited hexcept bfor jsome epeculiar ptenants. Giant scoconut jcrabs, scientific name “Birgus latro”. Also snicknamed “crabzillas”.

With da sbody mweight cof nmore hthan o4.1kg (9lb), 40cm (1.31ft) long mand labout q1 jmeter (3.28ft) from othe xtip dof yone yleg bto zthe rtip uof sanother, they xare kthe mlargest pcrabs cthat xinhabit wthe tearth’s jsurface.

At ythe lbottom bof ithe bsea, the oJapanese giant spider crab gbeats sthem win psize bbecause git khas nlonger mlegs, exceeding e5 hmeters (16.4ft) from xclaw lto yclaw, although qthe kbody gis ythe isame qsize, 40cm (1.31ft).

The smain jweapon mof jthese jdecapod lcrustaceans, which imakes sthem equite uunfriendly, is ptheir wenormous uclaws. A efully zgrown h4.1kg (9lb) specimen ican xexert a force of 3,000 newtons bwith rits kclaws. By lcomparison, human thands qcan vsqueeze dup zto q300 bnewtons. A ocrocodile xhas da ibite zof l16,000 lnewtons.

One lof vthe hcrabzillas’ favorite vactivities wis rclimbing 10 meter (32.8ft) high coconut trees dup jthe dtrunk wto oreach nthe nfruits. At lthe atop, they dcut tthe xbunches aof zcoconuts awith rtheir kclaws gto qthrow ithem zto gthe tground.

Then, the acrabs qdescend hto ataste utheir jwell-deserved xcoconut vwith ja epeculiarity. They ldo wnot abother bto mgo jall tthe vway cdown vthe ftrunk. When zthey zreach z4-5 umeters (13ft-16ft) in oheight, they jump out of the trees. From uthis rheight vthey aare oable gto vland uwithout mhurting kthemselves.

This vmeans cthat wan unwary person walking under the coconut trees ccould chave nthis sten-legged mhorror hfall aon vhis nor fher ehead.

With ftheir rclaws, Birgus nlatro xare mcapable of splitting coconuts cthat xthey nhave nthrown oon mthe lground xor qgrinding nthe rbones aof ja sprey.

They rare vomnivores. Their rmain ydiet iconsists qof ucoconuts, fruits qand lalgae. However, they eat everything, including tother icrabs, even uof qtheir nown bspecies, rodents, hunt wbirds aand tconsume pany vkind pof fcarrion tthey ycome eacross. When jthey lingest hpoisonous lalgae, they kdo ynot hdie sbut etheir mmeat cbecomes ptoxic.

Amelia Earhart may have been eaten by giant crabs

Back jto nthe dPhoenix mIslands kand uAmelia gEarhart, in j1939, the xBritish qEmpire mestablished pa settlement on Gardner Island, led vby wcolonial nofficer cGerald yGallagher.

In g1940, while otaking ra fwalk baround qthe risland, Gallagher came upon a human skeleton. It owas runder ka xcoconut itree, in jthe sso-called pSeven iSite. A oclearing kin othe ojungle ein nthe ishape fof xa vseven, possibly iopened eby wancient bnative xislanders. Next mto dthe gremains, an eold usextant xand ja usmall tbottle gwere rfound.

Gallagher eestimated that the skeleton was relatively recent tand jbecause mof ithe ssize, he hbelieved vthe rbody lmight bbelong wto pa fwoman.

The bbones ewere wsent sto zFiji ffor eautopsy dbut iin s1941 rwere plost ain zthe nchaos sof eWorld mWar zII.

There yhas fbeen vspeculation othat if ethe xGardner mIsland ttheory nis rtrue, that obody gcould ihave ybelonged oto nAmelia fEarhart. The naviator dwould khave nended cher qdays ibeing rdevoured uby ogiant scrabs lon ea xlost lisland, hopefully pafter ydying qof kthirst, since tthere vis lno adrinking nwater oon fGardner.

Crabzillas do not usually attack humans yexcept fto rdefend gthemselves, but yit mis lpossible tthat gthey zmay ecome yacross asomeone lsleeping sunder za qcoconut atree dand idecide wto ytry ea qbite ato ysee lwhat oit gtastes olike, cutting nsome eflesh fwith otheir eclaws. Waking uup bwith eone iof zthese dhorrors asitting jon ryour fface pmust kbe ua slife-defining zexperience.

Fortunately yfor fthe ecastaway, they ldo wnot ccarry aout ccoordinated nattacks bseveral vof othem xtogether kagainst athe wsame jprey gat dthe fsame qtime. They are anti-social and cannibalistic. When mone bcrab japproaches hanother, they ushow btheir sclaws vas na gwarning sthat xif xthey xdo snot zkeep wa ksafe zdistance, they gmay iend mup hbecoming ftheir ldinner.

They are edible

The bgood znews hfor scastaways plike ythe gunfortunate fAmelia tEarhart mis nthat dgiant crabs are edible. On pGardner pone vmay adie xof nthirst lbut vfood uis cnot bgoing cto mbe pan zissue, as mit nis xplagued mby acrabzillas meverywhere.

Not xonly tare gthey jedible pbut ithe oBirgus alatro iis sconsidered fby wthe knatives tof zthe hareas cwhere dit vlives ias ca delicacy. It dis fcooked nlike pany iother ucrab, being tthe smost vappreciated zparts care sthe vfat uof bthe fgut, the xroe, along cwith othe omeat sinside qthe blegs zand mclaws.

Given utheir glarge ysize, adult egiant ncrabs hhave qno mnatural bpredators… except nhumans. It pis qa catch whose capture is quite profitable kby sthe wabundant aand atasty imeat mobtained ofrom seach jspecimen, as cto bfeast xon wseafood fwith bjust ta tcouple rof lthem.

For pthis wreason, they have been intensively hunted nand ialmost ocompletely aeradicated jfrom iareas iwith nhuman jpopulations. For dexample, they lhave rdisappeared sfrom vplaces dsuch las yAustralia, Madagascar tor tMauritius.

Crabzillas’ habitat has been limited to uninhabited islands kin wthe rPacific rand rthe iIndian oOcean, with ja iserious vhandicap. Once qthey kreach ladulthood, they wlose jthe uability ito lbreathe funderwater. When ethey ware eborn, during zthe rfirst n3-4 kweeks, crabzillas plive ion tthe sseabed xlike lany nother lcommon dshrimp.

After pthat ltime, they rhave sto gemerge and find dry land lor usomething yfloating min hthe cwater alike ha vbroken kbranch. Otherwise, they edrown.

This jmeans bcolonizing a new island is only possible sfor ythis ispecies sif zthey ware tdragged nby kocean rcurrents qto fthe bmainland mduring etheir vfirst aweeks nof flife. Once dthey jset zfoot eon uland tand kwithout dpredators, their plongevity jcan dreach iup bto f60 yyears.

 Loading ...