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In the summer heat, it is best to go to the beach to blow the wind and drink a coconut. Coconuts are very troublesome to open, even if you are a skilled coconut opener, you have to cut several knives to open a coconut.
If you are not careful, you can also scratch your knife
Image source network
However, don't think that only you can eat coconuts, some crabs are eaten, and people can also open coconuts with their own hands!
It is the protagonist of today, the coconut crab.
Coconut crab lying on coconut
Image source: Wikipedia
It's a crab, but it's not a crab
Although the name bears the word "crab", the coconut crab is not a crab, but a hermit crab.
Let's start by distinguishing between crabs and hermit crabs. When you eat hairy crabs, the "crab navel" used to distinguish between male and female is the abdomen of the Chinese river crab.
The crab navel of the hairy crab is the abdomen of the Chinese river crab
Typically, the head and thorax of the crab are well developed, the shell is calcified, and constitutes the main part of the body, while the abdomen is underdeveloped and attached to the cephalothorax. Next time, when you don't get caught in the hand, try gently pulling open the belly of the hairy crab.
In contrast, the abdomen of the hermit crab is more developed. Some people may say, "The belly of the hermit crab is not developed, I have never seen it", this is because the belly of the hermit crab is mostly hidden in the shell of the snail it carries, and the abdomen is tightly clinging to this moving fortress in a place you can't see.
The hermit crab carries a heavy shell
Image source: Documentary "Life Story"
More short stories of hermit crabs
Coconut crabs are also a hermit crab, but they are outliers because of the degeneration of the coconut crab's abdomen. Although the coconut crab has lost the ability to "pick up the house", the shell of the person is strong enough to protect itself, and it does not need the armor it has picked up to protect itself.
Besides, don't look at how big people are!
This coconut crab has experienced hundreds of battles at a glance and has scared many people
Image source: ok.ru
Of course, the above is about the coconut crab that grows to a certain stage of development, and the larvae, like other types of hermit crabs, also need a snail shell to protect themselves.
Break the coconut with your bare hands, and the grip is amazing
Since they are all called coconut crabs, they must be a good hand at eating coconuts. You probably don't have the ability to open a whole coconut with your bare hands, but coconut crab can.
Eat coconuts? I'll break that for you
See watermark for image source
The coconut crab will start from the germination hole of the coconut and use the tongs to pry open the coconut shell little by little.
Coconut crabs do not use two pliers to insert the germination hole or slit at the same time to break the coconut, because its pectoral muscles are not developed, and the muscles on the pliers are developed.
The pliers on the left (slightly larger) can provide an average of 120 kg of grip force, and some individuals can even output more than 300 kg of grip force.
Coconut crab eats coconut, yay
What is this concept?
You know, the extreme value of adult male grip force is about 100 kg, while the limit of grip force for all humans is only about 195 kg. Coconut crab weighs about 8 kilograms at most, and how much do you weigh, do you have a number?
After seeing the coconut crab, don't try the chelation, the fingers are gone, don't say I didn't remind you.
After eating vegetarian food, I also ate birds!
Coconut crabs are omnivores, coconut crabs that live on desert islands and eat everything they can. In addition to coconuts, the fruits and seeds of other plants are also their food.
Vegetarian food alone is not interesting, and coconut crabs will even add some meat to themselves. The little turtles on the beach that break out of their shells and don't come and swim into the sea will also become small snacks for coconut crabs. Even other species of crabs with hard shells are vulnerable to coconut crabs.
Oh, it's a silly dog at first glance
Even some coconut crabs eat birds!
In 2017, on the Chagos Archipelago islands, 500 kilometers south of the Maldives, a coconut crab was spotted climbing a tree, quietly approaching and successfully sneaking up on a red-footed booby. The bones of the are clipped and left at the mercy of coconut crabs.
Red-footed booby: Bow to fate
However, there do not seem to be more reports of coconut crabs sneaking up on birds in the Chagos Archipelago and other coconut crabs, so the 2017 "case" may be just an independent incident, and "catching birds on the tree" has not become a habit of coconut crabs or a culture that can be transmitted within the species.
However, coconut crabs are very slippery on the tree, if you walk under the tree, you should also be careful of the top of your head.
Coconut crab on the tree
Widely distributed, survival is worrying
Coconut crab is widely distributed in the tropical waters from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, but if you want to see it, you don't have to run very far, and it is also distributed in southern Taiwan.
Prior to 2018, the IUCN did not accurately assess the extent of coconut crab stress due to "lack of data." In August 2018, coconut crabs were rated vulnerable on the grounds that coconut crabs are already extinct on many islands of origin, and on islands that are not fully extinct, coconut crabs are also under threat of habitat loss and human hunting.
Remember last September, on Christmas Island in Australia, where more than 50 coconut crabs besieged a family who was barbecuing in the open air?
No panic, small scenes
Instead of letting the coconut crabs join the humans' lavish dinner, the family allowed them to rob them of their own food. On the one hand, it is impossible to beat (mistakenly), and on the other hand, it is because coconut crabs are protected animals in Australia. What else can I do, I can only ask it to eat first.
Although, at present, coconut crabs can be freely traded in China, and the meat quality is also very delicious and delicious, but the number of people is endangered, or be merciful under the mouth.
Written by | Wu Haifeng
WeChat Editor | What a cool
Source | natural science
Source: Museum