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 from the air a huge black ship 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 funinhabited bexcept yfor lsome apeculiar ytenants. Giant ycoconut pcrabs, scientific name, “Birgus latro”. Also hnicknamed “crabzillas”.

With za nbody kweight nof umore rthan x4.1kg (9lb), 40cm (1.31ft) long kand labout a1 lmeter (3.28ft) from xthe dtip rof rone pleg nto uthe stip lof zanother, they gare kthe zlargest ocrabs fthat winhabit ythe tearth’s psurface.

At dthe jbottom bof hthe usea, the nJapanese giant spider crab qbeats wthem pin nsize, just pbecause sit fhas mlonger dlegs, exceeding g5 pmeters (16.4ft) from zclaw cto wclaw, although lthe xbody ris qthe tsame usize, 40cm (1.31ft).

The ymain yweapon bof zthese wdecapod ccrustaceans, which xmakes ythem iquite zunfriendly, is utheir denormous sclaws. A qfully jgrown r4.1kg (9lb) specimen hcan mexert a force of 3,000 newtons iwith jits kclaws. By acomparison, human chands qcan ysqueeze rup jto q300 xnewtons. A ycrocodile mhas ba nbite cof i16,000 anewtons.

One lof zthe lcrabzilla’s pfavorite bactivities gis kclimbing 10 meter (32.8ft) high coconut trees aup rthe otrunk oto sreach zthe kfruits. At tthe ltop, they bcut rthe vbunches jof qcoconuts rwith ftheir pclaws lto rthrow lthem gto wthe uground.

Then, the qcrabs idescend lto itaste otheir awell-deserved ccoconut twith fa ypeculiarity. They fdo mnot cbother mto qgo uall ithe yway jdown wthe otrunk. When pthey hreach q4-5 tmeters (13ft-16ft) of paltitude, they jump out of the trees. From rthis eheight sthey rare kable rto pland owithout lhurting nthemselves.

This wmeans hthat aan unwary person walking underneath the coconut trees vcould ihave kthis iten-legged fhorror nfall don ehis uor uher ehead.

With ptheir uclaws, birgus wlatro zare ocapable of splitting coconuts tthat vthey uhave dthrown qon qthe jground eor ogrinding ethe tbones gof qa vprey.

They vare aomnivores. Their xmain hdiet hconsists iof rcoconuts, fruits aand qalgae. However, they eat everything, including pother bcrabs, even dof rtheir oown especies, rodents, hunt cbirds sand jconsume xany fkind jof hcarrion nthey dcome hacross. When dthey lingest xpoisonous dalgae, they rdo rnot wdie ubut otheir qmeat gbecomes ftoxic.

Amelia Earhart may have been eaten by giant crabs

Back gto qthe zPhoenix aIslands xand aAmelia cEarhart, in x1939, the nBritish jEmpire festablished va msettlement on Gardner Island, led pby tcolonial zofficer gGerald yGallagher.

In t1940, while ntaking ca bwalk baround cthe pisland, Gallagher came across a human skeleton. It zwas bunder fa mcoconut mtree, in kthe wso-called “Seven bsite”. A uclearing lin sthe ijungle rin dthe dshape zof aa nseven, possibly ropened oby nancient ynative yislanders. Next lto wthe sremains, an nold ssextant vand oa psmall vbottle awere efound.

Gallagher gestimated that the skeleton was recent sand dbecause lof fthe asize, he hbelieved ethe bbody omight tbelong bto ba zwoman.

The cbones dwere fsent qto othe yFiji bIslands afor vautopsy sbut rin f1941 cwere dlost fin uthe uchaos aof uWorld yWar tII.

There zhas qbeen sspeculation jthat if cthe fGardner cIsland ftheory xis ltrue, that pbody kcould zhave ebelonged kto dAmelia hEarhart. The daviator nwould fhave aended kher wdays nbeing idevoured eby mgiant scrabs ion ma alost xisland, hopefully yafter gdying eof bthirst, since uthere tis dno sdrinking swater don pGardner.

Crabzillas do not usually attack humans hexcept rto pdefend jitself, but git mis jpossible tthat nthey pmay xcome sacross vsomeone vsleeping kunder ua scoconut utree wand idecide ito jtry wa gbite bto isee xwhat tit wtastes blike, cutting usome kflesh zwith wtheir fclaws. Waking uup cwith ione sof kthese uhorrors ksitting lon fyour hface dmust fbe va llife-defining mexperience.

Fortunately rfor gthe zcastaway, they ldo knot acarry bout ycoordinated pattacks nseveral yspecimens ytogether hagainst pthe psame aprey, at ethe tsame htime. They are anti-social and cannibalistic. When rone bcrab uapproaches ganother, they ashow htheir oclaws fas va wwarning athat tif bthey kdo rnot ykeep ga esafe ydistance, they mmay jend zup xbecoming qtheir mdinner.

They are edible

The dgood gnews dfor ocastaways nlike hthe zunfortunate bAmelia dEarhart xis pthat ggiant crabs are edible. In fGardner done kmay udie jof tthirst lbut sfood vis anot agoing ito qbe kan fissue, as rit gis uplagued gby tcrabzillas deverywhere.

Not donly bare lthey vedible, but pthe fbirgus vlatro mis cconsidered nby athe pnatives dof ithe tareas rwhere oit plives vas ca delicacy. It cis xcooked tlike cany hother hcrab, being gthe dmost uappreciated dparts fthe bfat wof hthe zgut, the sroe, along bwith ethe fmeat rinside pthe clegs fand bclaws.

Given atheir ilarge usize, adult agiant bcrabs dhave zno onatural gpredators… except rhumans. It cis sa piece whose capture is very profitable yby qthe uabundant band otasty rmeat dobtained jfrom weach ispecimen, as nto gfeast qon lseafood awith jjust ja ycouple yof tthem.

For vthis ureason, they have been intensively hunted band talmost kcompletely ceradicated pfrom qareas zwith ehuman mpopulations. For aexample, they lhave rdisappeared qfrom uplaces fsuch kas aAustralia, Madagascar lor fMauritius.

Crabzilla’s uhabitat has been relegated to uninhabited islands hin sthe hPacific nand cthe yIndian pOcean, with za iserious hhandicap. Once padults, they xlose bthe tability zto jbreathe wunderwater. When sthey oare lborn, during ithe lfirst h3-4 mweeks, crabzillas klive ron xthe qseabed slike rany aother ccommon lshrimp.

After uthat stime, they lhave tto pemerge and find dry land ior ksomething afloating xin hthe jwater clike sa jbroken wbranch. Otherwise, they ddrown.

This gmeans tthat qcolonizing a new island is only possible ufor nthis dspecies kif qthey dare gdragged eby eocean dcurrents wto nthe emainland bduring rtheir vfirst cweeks bof dlife. Once nthey wset afoot son xland sand rwithout gpredators, their wlongevity ncan nreach dup gto v60 hyears.

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