![]() Clauss has learned not to sleep on the ground.Ĭoconut crabs are the largest land invertebrates, and their presence on small islands may have a great effect on the nesting behavior of birds. “If you shine a flashlight, outside the shadow ring there are a thousand crabs.” Or so it can seem. (Yes, the crabs can climb.)īut at night? “The crabs close in on you,” says John Clauss, a member of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) and a veteran of more than ten of the organization’s expeditions to the island. Those that emerge from their burrows into the intense tropical heat spend their time in the shade of the coconut palms, say, or among the branches of the ren trees. Members of the National Geographic-sponsored expedition currently searching the island for traces of Amelia Earhart know to keep a wary eye out for the enormous crustaceans-their claws exert more force than most animals' bite.ĭuring the day, when the scientists do most of their work on the Pacific atoll, the crabs are easily avoided. As the largest land invertebrate on the planet, coconut crabs can measure up to three feet across and clock in at over nine pounds. ![]() Nikumaroro Island, KiribatiThe coconut crabs on the island of Nikumaroro are longer than a reporter’s notebook, wider than an archaeologist’s trowel, and roughly the same size as an explorer’s hiking boot. ![]()
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