Animalia Stupendium: The Coconut Crab

Bored with dragons, the wizard Argomandanies turns his arcane attention to the fantastic fauna of the natural world. Welcome to Animalia Stupendium, a chronicle of Earth’s amazing biodiversity with all the enthusiasm of a fantasy monster book. In this episode, the wizard will consider the mighty Coconut Crab.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to blow your mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to Animalia Stupendium. My name is Algomandanes. Returned from
accidental imprisonment within the magic mirror of Moore, I am
as always your tireless creature chronicler. But mere monsters, of course,
hold no mystery for me these days. Dragons, our drab,

(00:34):
and even the specula fish in the mirror failed to
rouse me during my imprisonment, and so once more I
turn my attention to the strange fauna of a land
called Earth. Travel with me, gentle reader, as we consider
the mighty coconut crab.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Common name cocoanut crab scientific classification burgus, later, frequency and
range various islands of the Indian and Pacific Ocean, size
up to three feet or point nine meters across, diet fruit, nuts, seed,
and carrying treasure hoard none challenge raady two, also known

(01:17):
as the rabble crab. The cocoanut crab resembles nothing so
much as a gnarl disembodied claw. It is not a
true crab, but rather a giant terrestrial species of hermit crab.
As adults, however, they outgrow their need for pilfered shells

(01:37):
and instead develop a tough, leathery exoskeleton that provides ample
protection on their scattered island habitats. They are the largest.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Land living arthropod on earth. Nocturnal scavengers, the cocoanut crabs
spend the daylight hours in their rocky burrows and then
venture out in the dark to find morsels of fruit
or nut, including their namesake, the coconut, which they can
climb trees to obtain if need be. Meat, however, is

(02:14):
very much on the menu for these lumbering creatures, as
they'll gladly tear into carrion should they chance across it,
and shockingly, they may also even actively hunt living prey. Yes,
biologists have in fact observed them sneak attacking red footed
boobies in the night. No tree branch, it would seem,

(02:37):
is safe from their hunger stealth roll success. The cocoanut
crab benefits from great strength, with specimens able to lift
weights of thirty kilograms or sixty six pounds. And then
there are the claws to consider, capable of closing with

(02:58):
a force equal to eighty times the individual's own body mass,
indeed making it more than capable of breaking into a coconut,
as well as into the soft bodies of various birds, boobies, swallows,
or otherwise pincer damage. The coconut crab is understood to

(03:19):
be an evolutionary offshoot of the various hermit crab species.
This would have occurred some two point six to five
point three million years ago, perhaps due to changes that
robbed the robber crab here of its shelter options, forcing
it to grow larger and tougher in order to thrive

(03:42):
in a shell free terrestrial environment. Now, to be sure,
juvenile coconut crabs still make use of scaven shells, and
we must also note that while the adults live and
die on land and can never truly return to the ocean,
they still must release their eggs eggs into the water
in order to ensure the next generation of coconut crabs

(04:07):
in the ocean. The hatched free swimming shrimp like larvae
called Zoea disperse, clinging to bits of vegetation, even coconut husks,
for a period of several weeks before becoming equally free
swimming and shrimp like glaucothowe, which find suitable shells on
the seabed then they begin their march towards the various

(04:31):
islands that will serve their fully terrestrial, juvenile and adult forms,
an amazing journey. Humans never get to live as free
swimming larvae, I mean, except for us wizards in certain circumstances.
Of course, there are more mysteries concerning the coconut crab

(04:51):
to consider, But for now I must retire my wizard's
quill and allow my familiars some respite. But I shall,
I'll return with even more wonders of the natural world. Hi,
this is Robert Lamb. Thanks once more to the wizard
Argomannanes for joining us on the episode. Sources for it

(05:15):
included coconut crabs, the bird eating behemoth thriving on isolated
tropical islands by Emily Osterloff Natural History Museum, the San
Francisco Zoo, ruler of the atoll, the world's largest land
invertebrate by Mark E. Lydra Frontiers and Ecology in the Environment,
twenty seventeen. A mighty claw pinching force of the coconut crab,

(05:40):
the largest terrestrial crustacean by Oca at All Plos one
twenty sixteen. Pinching simulation of the coconut crab considering the
three D shape and internal characteristics of the robust claw
exoskeleton Inowey at All Results in Engineering twenty twenty five,
Status of the coconut crab Burgess latro in Neo by

(06:00):
a logi at All Pacific Community twenty fifteen, and to
a very limited extent, my own recent observations in Raasha ONMPAC.
Thanks as always to the excellent JJ Possway for producing
this episode. If you wish to contact Argomandanes with recommendations
for future episodes, you could send an email to contact
at stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,