The coconut crabs were actually opportunistic predators.
A giant coconut crab has been filmed stalking, killing and devouring a seabird. It is the first time these whopping crustaceans have been seen actively hunting large, back-boned animals, and suggests they might dominate their island ecosystems.
Coconut crabs (Birgus latro), also known as robber crabs, are an imposing sight. They can weigh up to 4 kilograms, as much as a house cat, and sport legs that span almost a metre. This makes them the largest invertebrates – animals without backbones – on land. The crabs live on coral atolls in the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans.
They are renowned for their tree-climbing abilities and taste for coconuts, which they crack open with their powerful claws. They do sometimes eat meat, but until now it was thought that they only obtained it by opportunistic scavenging.
Between January and March 2016, Mark Laidre of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire visited the Chagos Archipelago, a remote series of atolls in the Indian Ocean. Chagos is ideal for studying coconut crabs: it is in pristine condition, is surrounded by one of the largest marine reserves on Earth and has lots of coconut crabs, making them easier to find and observe.
Attack of the killer crab One night, Laidre saw a coconut crab slowly climb a tree and so he began filming. The crab inched towards a common seabird called a red-footed booby, which was sleeping in a nest near the ground. It then lunged with a claw, pinching and breaking the bone in one of the bird’s wings and causing it to tumble out of the tree.
Don't know about poison but they are pretty strong.
Julian Kelly
Fuck that I don't want that nigga sneaking up on me while I'm sleeping
Jace Fisher
yabby innit
Gabriel Gonzalez
only in mexico
Logan Butler
>tfw snibbity snabed to death in my sleep
Bentley Barnes
why are crabs becoming so based? are they sick of polluted waters and being eaten? for real crabs are pulling blades on people and shit.
Brayden Sullivan
Gtfo newscientist
Caleb James
>live in isolated, pitch black heat vents at the deepest trenches of the ocean >live all along the sea floor >live in shallow water among coral >live in sand on beaches >live in fucking trees
B A S E D crabs.
Logan Ross
I'd serve those crab legs.
Anthony Parker
>mfw kill another h*man in a knife fight
Anthony Rodriguez
Fun fact: some crabs eat tubeworms, which have blood that contains 300 times the surrounding level of toxic nitrate.
Jack Sanders
>live in my pubes Very based
Jaxon Gray
Not so fast, crabbo...
David Hall
How would you effectively kill that thing without a gun...
Henry Thomas
>few yuros don't have crab guns Enjoy your crustacean enrichment.
Asher Murphy
Destroy their habitat.
Jordan Reed
*teleports behind you* Have you forgotten crabs aren't...kosher
Jaxon Murphy
It's actually a cancer, not a crab.
Colton Russell
Forgot pic
Elijah Turner
ummm... back the fuck off!?
Hudson Hughes
Smash it? I'm not sure how strong you'd have to be, but probably not body builder levels.
Julian Hughes
Yeah but look at those niggas you think they'd let you off if you tried to smash them?
Henry Jenkins
what, did anyone actually doubt something that looks like pic related was capable of brutal murder?
Brayden Cruz
Christ, it looked way smaller in OPs pic. Lure one at a time, smash, then move to another country t.bh.
Easton Brown
Hunting*, the big boy was just hungry (and i think they are also edible for us)
Alexander Brown
Better to back off. We have been sparring with our lobster brethren for millenia
Bentley Lee
Pick it up by its back legs and drop it in a pot of boiling water. Don't forget the butter sauce.
David Morris
They're family would follow you and murder you in your sleep like that bird desu
Luke Evans
kek wonder how it will taste though....
Jonathan Scott
How intelligent are crabs and similar crustaceans?
I don’t expect them to pass mirror test, but I wouldn’t be suprised if they were on par with mice and such.
Josiah Sanchez
>czech education
Joshua Lopez
This has to be bait
Landon Flores
If cards are played right then we might have a nice sledgehammer sales boost with them.
Michael Ross
why arent they farmed? looks like they could become an economic success
Joshua Morgan
>jewish ancestor.jpg
Jonathan Cox
that's a big crab
Christopher Peterson
I trully did not learn about how smart crabs are because in my country there arfe no crabs, so can you please enlighten me?
Blake Mitchell
hmm, sledgehammers would do the job pretty good I think You only need the power and effectiveness of swinging it and you'd probably kill it in one go
