The evolution of living things is random, there is no direction and purpose, and for any organism their purpose is actually only one to survive and reproduce genes. In the process of reproduction, each generation of genes may have random mutations, and if the mutated genes are more likely to survive in the environment, then the genes can better continue on Earth.
Genes store all the information in life
It is precisely because of this miraculous evolutionary ability that life has now formed a scene of a hundred flowers blooming, originally there was only one simple single-celled organism on the earth, but now the organisms on the earth have formed a balanced ecosystem, and there will be corresponding organisms in each location.
Because of biodiversity, life can continue to reproduce and survive on the earth after facing several mass extinctions. Today, I will introduce one of these strange life- coconut crabs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > the habits of coconut crabs</h1>
Speaking of coconut crabs, I believe many people have only two impressions of it - it survives on land and its size is very large. For more information about coconut crab, I believe many people do not know.
A coconut crab that looks like a prehistoric insect
First of all, the coconut crab is actually a creature belonging to the family Ofcae, and in simple terms, it is closely related to the thumb-sized creature of the hermit crab.
The hermit crab itself is a very special creature, in addition to the ordinary hermit crab that lives in the conch, the barnacles that look like stones are also evolved by the hermit crab, and the coconut crab, a super large crab, is also evolved by it. Judging from its miraculous evolution path, perhaps it is not surprising that a flying hermit crab will appear in the future, when it will be able to occupy the three realms of sea, land and air.
hermit crab
Although the coconut crab evolved as a hermit crab, it did not need to live in any protective cover, because they had evolved over time and grown a set of hard armor on their own.
Perhaps in the beginning, it was just some hermit crabs who could not find the hermit conch who gave up the protective cover and chose to survive on the beach. With nature's elimination, adult coconut crabs are no longer afraid of seabirds and other predators.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > coconut crabs that eat everything </h1>
The coconut crab is the world's largest terrestrial crab and the largest land arthropod, weighing up to 12 pounds because its huge pincers can easily open the thick coconut shell and then eat the coconut flesh inside.
Coconut crab split coconut
But don't think that because it is called coconut crab, it only eats coconuts, in fact, coconut crabs are an omnivorous animal, they adhere to the survival concept of hermit crabs - opportunism, hermit crabs will change when they see a suitable house, and coconut crabs will also improve their diet at the first opportunity.
In addition to the main food of coconut crabs is the meat in coconuts, they will also eat some lonely seabirds, cats, chickens, mice and other animals, because coconut crabs are not fast, so they do not have the ability to hunt these small animals.
However, coconut crabs occasionally travel in groups on land, and if there is a bad egg that happens to fall into the coconut crab group, it is very likely that it will be caught and eaten. In addition to waiting for the arrival of unlucky animals, coconut crabs are more of a source of carrion from the carcasses of animals on the seashore.
Coconut crabs prey on seabirds
Coconut crab is very large, it has ten legs and two large jaws, the thick body makes them not move quickly on land, their survival strategy is mainly to rely on the thick carapace to protect themselves, and then climb up the tree to pick coconuts, coconuts as a staple food, and occasionally seize the opportunity to eat some meat to improve their diet.
And the coconut crab is very much like a robber who robs, at the first opportunity, he will snatch the food he can catch, eat almost everything, and often invade the residential area at night, stealing crops and even animals, so the local residents will also call it a robber crab.
Not only that, but coconut crabs are also one of the few arthropods that eats their own shedding carapace. Even if it is such a thick calcareous carapace on its own body, it can be easily digested, and it really has to make people sigh the strength of coconut crabs.
Coconut crabs that are shedding their shells
And because coconut crabs have the habit and ability to eat carapace, coconut crabs will often eat their own carapace that has not yet faded, and this kind of cannibalism is not uncommon.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > coconut crabs that will drown </h1>
As you should know, there are two kinds of turtles, aquatic and terrestrial, and some "loving" people have bought many terrestrial turtles to "release" into the water in order to show their love, and all of them have drowned.
Coconut crab as a terrestrial arthropod, of course, can not survive in the water, although its close relatives hermit crab are able to breathe in the water animals, but the coconut crab because of the long-term evolution on the ground, but lost the ability to breathe in the water.
Coconut Crab: I can't go into the water
Arthropods living in water generally have gills, and oxygen in water can be filtered into blood vessels through the special tissues of gills. And coconut crabs because of the long time on the ground to survive, their gills are still there, but has gradually degenerated, if you soak in the water for a long time, then the coconut crab will not be able to get enough oxygen, it will be drowned alive.
The fact that a hermit crab drowned in water is a bit counterintuitive, but it is. And what is even more embarrassing is that the cheeks are not lungs after all, not organs that exist to breathe air. Coconut crabs simply can't breathe on the ground for long periods of time with their gills, and their gills must remain moist to suck oxygen from the air into their bodies.
Simply put, it will drown, and it will die of dryness. This particular way of breathing limits the coconut crab's range of survival and can only survive by the sea, because it must often return to the sea to moisten its gills, and also need the sea water to help it maintain the water and salt balance of the body.
The range of life of coconut crabs is limited
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="34" > endangered coconut crabs</h1>
This kind of coconut crab, which looks like a robber and does everything in order to survive, is eventually endangered because of one of its characteristics, which is that it is delicious, the coconut crab produces a large amount of meat, and the meat quality often has a faint coconut flavor, so it is sought after by the local people.
From hard coconuts to small animals to rotting corpses, to everything in the trash can that looks like it can be eaten, coconut crabs are all turned away. It didn't expect that one day, it would be targeted by a species that eats everything like it, and this species is, of course, human.
The coconut crab has been surrounded by its "predators"
In fact, coconut crabs in order not to prey predators, has tried not to look like they can eat, first of all, the color of coconut crabs is strange, red, blue and gray and even colored coconut crabs have a lot, in nature, brightly colored organisms or plants generally have a certain degree of toxicity, so many hunters will choose not to eat them.
In addition to color, strong and huge carapace also often makes it difficult for animals to bite, coconut crab carapace because it is thick enough, so it is much harder than ordinary crabs or hermit crabs, many animals do not know where to bite it. And the huge size of the coconut crab will also make predators discouraged from it.
It can be said that the coconut crab has done a very good job in protecting its own safety, but for humans, all the above problems are not problems, whether it is poisonous or not, you know, the carapace is hard and can not compete with the tool.
With a hard pinch, the shell shatters
And humans themselves have the habit of eating crabs and hermit crabs, and even the coconut crab's close relative, the barnacles that look like stones, have been brought to the table by humans.
So of course, coconut crabs can't escape the fate of being eaten by humans. Coconut crabs are found on the coast near the tropics, and although they eat everything, their mobility is extremely average, their crawling speed is extremely slow, and they often need to climb trees in order to pick their staple food, coconuts.
Although the coconut crab is slow to move, the coconut crab's large jaw that can tear the coconut is very scary, and if it is clipped, it can easily tear a piece of flesh from the human body. As a result, humans often need to be very careful when catching coconut crabs.
Humans are truly the top predators
Local residents generally take advantage of the coconut crab on the tree to pick coconuts, wrap a rope around the trunk of the tree a few times, and when the coconut crab touches the rope when it goes down the tree, it will think that it has reached the ground, and then the double anchovy will be released, and then the unlucky coconut crab will fall to the ground.
The coconut crab, which fell to the sky with ten feet, was powerless to resist at this time, and could only be picked up and waited to be cooked. In fact, throughout the entire hermit crab species, almost all of them have very delicious flesh, even the huge coconut crab is no exception.
Coconut crabs have sweet and tender white flesh in their full and large jaws, and the abdomen of coconut crabs is no exception, with a large amount of semi-solid substances rich in protein. Melanesia, rich in coconut crabs, invented a best way to use coconut crabs, they would lock up the caught coconut crabs and feed them coconuts until they were fed fat, almost fat enough to open the carapace, and then cook them.
Coconut crab after cooking
This method is very similar to the French forced feeding of geese in order to obtain fat foie gras. The coconut crab that is fed will have a strong coconut meat aroma, which makes people eat the lips and teeth.
Coconut crab as a lifespan and breeding period is relatively long organisms, the stability of the population has always been relatively fragile, can not withstand the large number of human hunting, but its delicious flesh makes humans stare at it. So, it didn't take long from humans knowing that coconut crabs could eat them until coconut crabs became endangered.
In Taiwan Province, China, there were once a large number of coconut crabs breeding on its coast, but because of the fishermen's killing, it is now almost impossible to see the local coconut crabs, and they are struggling on the local table. If this continues, perhaps there will be one less species on Earth.
Run
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="54" > the effects of coconut crabs on ecological balance</h1>
If the coconut crab becomes extinct, for humans, it is not as simple as one dish missing from the table, which actually means that there will be one less creature in the biosphere that strives to survive.
Organisms that feed on juvenile coconut crabs will have a smaller population due to the disappearance of coconut crabs, and these populations will also lead to a decrease in their predators. This will be a chain reaction, the lack of any link in the food chain will have an impact on the upstream organisms, and we humans, as the creatures in the upstream of the food chain, will inevitably suffer the final consequences of the chain reaction.
Juvenile coconut crab
And not only the upstream organisms will be reduced, but also the downstream organisms of the biological chain of the coconut crab will also increase, which will lead to a significant imbalance in the ecosystem, and eliminating this imbalance will require a long period of evolution, with new life filling the ecological niche of the coconut crab.
But before that, ecosystems will become more fragile and disordered, which will have a detrimental effect on our human development and survival. So we protect the species balance, which is actually protecting our own interests.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="60" > how to protect coconut crabs</h1>
Now that governments have issued relevant protection policies for coconut crabs, it is generally forbidden to catch smaller coconut crabs and prohibit the trade of coconut crabs.
On the surface is a big guy, behind his back being boiled in a pot
In addition, countries are trying to figure out how coconut crabs can be farmed in captivity. If the research is successful, then we can taste the food with peace of mind, and we can also not worry about the coconut crab being wiped out by human appetite. But artificial cultivation of coconut crabs is not easy, and no one has successfully studied it so far.
And at present, whether the coconut crab is an endangered species is quite controversial, although many countries prohibit the uncontrolled capture of coconut crabs, but the overall protection measures for coconut crabs are not strict, many countries will ignore the capture of coconut crabs for economic benefits, what do you think about this?