Many people are surprised by the horror of the horror of coconut crabs – climbing the tree to break the bird’s wings, then cut them off.
What do you think crabs eat? You would say they eat small animals like worms, snails … But if someone says there is a “giant” crab that eats meat, but it’s bird meat – do you think?
If you don’t believe it, visit the remote Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to witness the terrifying spectacle – the crab meat – that researcher Mark Laidre from Dartmouth University (UK) has called ” the end of terror “.
Coconut crab – ruler of the “fear of islands”
The species of crab we want to mention here is the coconut crab (Birgus latro) or the thief crab – the largest species of invertebrate living on the ground.
According to records, coconut crabs can weigh up to 4 kg, its claws can reach 1 m in length. They live alone in underground caves on some islands in the Indian Ocean.
This species of crab is famous for climbing trees, using strong pairs to crush the coconut to eat it. This is why they are called coconut crabs. So far this species of crab is said to only eat scavengers, but researcher Mark Laidre has discovered the horrible truth, coconut crabs also know how to find bird nests to attack and attack them. eat.
Specifically, in March 2016, Laidre witnessed this giant crab climbing to the top of the tree, sneaking up to near a red-legged seabird perched in a nest on a tree branch near the ground.
Then my crabs crept into the nest, broke a bird’s wing, knocked it off the tree. After the first attack, the giant crab slowly crawled to the ground, approached where the bird was, and broke the other wing. The bird was divided into two wings, lying on its back, trying to weakly resist.
In less than 20 minutes, 5 more coconut crabs also arrived. Perhaps their keen sense of smell prompted them to come to a place that smelled of blood.
The first attacker dragged the still wobbling bird to a corner and the other crabs scurried off to fight for prey.
Hours later, the crabs tore the baby bird to pieces and ate most of them. “This scene was just too horrible,” Laidre says.
Many people wonder that, again, the coconut crab breaks the wings of the sweet bird. According to Shichiro Oka of the Okinawa Churashima Research Center (Japan), coconut crabs easily break the wings of a large bird.
In 2016, he discovered that the claws of the coconut crab, when squeezed, can generate 3300 newtons of power, which is equivalent to a strong bite from a lion or tiger.
Oka said, “Crabs and coconuts can generate 80 to 100 times more strength than their body mass. This individual crab weighs around 2 kg, so it is not difficult to break the wings of birds so quickly and neatly. ” .
It is known that this is the first time that researchers record scenes of coconut crabs hunting and killing a species of vertebrates.
It shows that they can completely dominate the ecological environment here and make other creatures – like seabirds – not dare to live here anymore. Because even in the nest on the high branches, the bird also turns into a delicious meal of this giant crab.
These ideas are only a hypothesis.
Currently, Laidre and his colleagues are planning to add a video camera to the entrance to the crab cave to see if this predatory habit is temporary or frequent. It’s really interesting.
Newscientist
