The largest representative of arthropods, coconut crab! Land hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus)Engl. Land hermit crab How small crabs develop

Five hundred million years ago, in the waters of the Cambrian seas, among the feathery colonies of anemones, the ancestors of modern crustaceans ran along the bottom, swarming in the silt. In the process of evolution on Earth, more than 70 thousand species of these creatures were formed, of which approximately 7 thousand species are crabs. What are these creatures now, where do they live and what are their sizes - the article tells about this.

What kind of creatures are crabs?

The word "crab" itself comes from the Dutch krab or the German krabbe, a derivative of krabbein, which means "crawl, swarm", derived from the way these animals move.

Crabs are called short-tailed crayfish - special detachment crustaceans. Crayfish belong to the type of arthropods, so named because of the peculiar structure of the legs. The body of these animals is covered with a chitinous shell, which is an exoskeleton. As they grow, crabs shed their old, now small, shell, leaving their soft body defenseless. During the molting period, until the animal has grown a new hard shell, the crabs begin the breeding season.

Five pairs of legs were the reason for calling crustaceans decapods. The front pair of legs, armed with claws, serves as a cancer with arms and weapons. At different types crayfish, the shape and length of the claws are different. There are individuals with claws of the same length, and there are creatures with claws of different lengths and shapes. The last pair in some aquatic species was transformed in the process of evolution into a kind of oars. Crabs do not know how to swim; they move along the ocean floor on their feet, mostly sideways.

Decapods feed on molluscs, small fish, algae, carrion, everything they find at the bottom or can catch themselves. Crayfish hunt and get food with the help of claws, which may have different purpose. In some species, a larger claw is used to split hard shells or protection, and with a small claw they butcher soft food. Interesting fact Scientists have identified by observing the behavior of crustaceans: among them there are right-handers and left-handers.

Crabs differ from crayfish in the rounded shape of the shell that protects the cephalothorax, internal organs and a short abdomen tucked under the carapace. An interesting feature of the molting of crabs: when molting, the animal sheds the chitinous cover completely, including the eyes, legs, surface internal organs. Having molted several times, an individual can grow severed limbs. Young crabs molt much more often than adults. Some types of crabs molt for the rest of their lives, as they grow constantly. Among those that grow to the end of their days, the largest crabs in the world grow.

What are the biggest crabs?

Among the many types of crabs, there is no absolute leader in size, but several species are distinguished by very large individuals. To date, the spider crab living in the Sea of ​​​​Japan is recognized as the champion in size. The diameter of the carapace of a huge individual reaches 1.5 m, and the distance between the straightened claws is up to four meters. The weight of such an instance is more than 40 kg. But this is an isolated case, on average, the size of these arthropods is about half a meter in shell and with a claw span of up to three meters, and a weight of about 20 kg. These creatures live, presumably, up to a hundred years.

The next in size is the royal, or Kamchatka, crab. Individuals with a shell up to thirty centimeters wide and a leg span of up to 1.5 meters reach a weight of about 7 kg, and some specimens approach the ten-kilogram mark. This animal lives in the seas washing the shores Far East and in the Barents Sea, where it was artificially settled.

A little behind the king is a large land crab, known in Russia as brown, or edible. The body is about 25 cm in size, weighing up to three and a half kilograms, making it one of the largest representatives of crustaceans. Isolated cases are known when brown crab reached larger sizes. The range covers the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.

coconut crab

But not only in the seas live large crabs. The islands of the Indian Ocean are home to the world's largest land crab, the coconut crab. One of the names of this creature palm thief, for the habit of dragging to itself everything that lies badly and glitters. Although the palm thief looks like a crab, strictly scientifically it is not. Rather, it is one of the varieties of hermit crab.

The body size of approximately 40 cm makes this crayfish the largest land arthropod. Adult individuals reach a weight within four kilos. The palm thief reaches a similar size by the age of forty, and their life expectancy exceeds sixty years.

The thieves lead night image life, feeding on the fruits of plants, small animals or other members of their own species. Awesome appearance makes it undesirable to meet him at night, but the animals themselves do not pose a threat to humans. Only if, when meeting with a palm thief, you try to grab him, then you can say goodbye to your fingers. The claws of this cancer are adapted to crack coconuts, and the strength in the paws is enough to carry a load weighing thirty kilos.

During the day, the palm thief hides in burrows dug in the sand, or in crevices of coastal rocks. Crabs line their shelters with coconut fibers to protect them from drying out. Although the adult crab prefers to live on land due to the peculiarity of breathing, young animals up to five years old live in coastal waters. By the age of five, the size of the carapace of the coconut crab reaches 10 cm, and the gills are rebuilt to breathe atmospheric oxygen. At this age, the young thief moves to land, to a permanent place of residence, never to return to the sea for life.

Crabs reach sexual maturity at the age of ten. After the onset of this age, animals participate in the process of reproduction. Mating of crabs occurs at the moment of molting of females, when the new exoskeleton is still soft and does not interfere with the fertilization of eggs, which the female wears under her abdomen, holding with a pair of legs. Because males shed later than females, mating season they protect females from enemies. After the eggs have matured, the female goes to the sea and lays her eggs in the water at high tide. She does not enter the water at all, since she is no longer able to breathe underwater.

Although thieves love loneliness, from mid-June to the end of August, the desire to procreate takes over and male crabs can smell their mate at a distance of several kilometers. Crustaceans of this species have a highly developed sense of smell, which distinguishes it from representatives of other types of crayfish. To smell an individual of the opposite sex or the aroma of food, they are helped by receptors and a special organ of smell, which is absent in other crabs.

Although the appearance of a crab can cause a state of horror in an unusual person, the number of these unusual animals is declining every year. The mass catch of young mature individuals and young animals that have not reached maturity has led to a significant reduction in the populations of these crustaceans.

The meat of palm thieves, like other types of crabs, is a delicacy. Tasty, healthy meat of young individuals is highly valued by gourmets around the world. rich fatty acids, proteins and iodine, it is considered dietary due to the absence of carbohydrates in it.

The meat of thieves is a universally recognized aphrodisiac that affects men and women. Due to such unique properties, the number of crayfish has greatly decreased, so the authorities of countries where there are populations of these animals have limited hunting for them in order to protect them from extinction.

About what is the largest crab in the world, see the following video.

Seeing this amazing arthropod, every faint of heart will shudder with horror and surprise - after all, there is no one in the world more interesting and, at the same time, more terrible than a coconut crab. In any case, among arthropods - after all, he is rightfully considered their largest representative.

1. The coconut crab has many other "names": for example, a thief crab or a palm thief - after all, this strange arthropod really steals its prey. Travelers of the past centuries, who visited the islands spread out in the West Pacific Ocean and in Indian Ocean, talk about the fact that the coconut crab hides from prying eyes in the dense greenery of palm trees in order to suddenly grab its prey lying right under the tree or not far from it.

2. Coconut crab (lat. Birgus latro) is actually not a crab at all, despite its striking resemblance to the arthropod relative mentioned in the name. This is a land hermit crab belonging to the species of decapods.

Strictly speaking, it is also a stretch to call a palm thief a land arthropod, since part of its life passes in the sea, and even tiny crustaceans are born in the water column. Newborn babies with a defenseless soft abdominal cavity are busily crawling along the bottom of the reservoir in search of a reliable house, which can serve as a nut shell, and an empty shell of a mollusk.

3. In "childhood" birgus latro is not too different from a hermit crab: he drags his shell along with him and spends almost all the time in the water. But having once left the larval state and left the water, he is no longer able to return there, and at some point even carry a shell-house behind him. Unlike the abdomens of hermit crabs, its abdomen is not an Achilles' heel and gradually hardens, and the tail curls under the body, protecting the body from cuts. Thanks to special lungs, he begins to breathe out of the water.

In truth, most of the legends noted this particular feature of it - the first Europeans who arrived on the islands described coconut crabs as creatures hiding in the foliage of trees with long claws that suddenly stretched to the very ground and captured prey, up to sheep and goats. Scientists have confirmed that birgus latro has great strength and can lift up to 30 kg of weight. However, they found out that the crab uses its abilities to drag cargo from place to place, preferring to eat dead animals, crabs and fallen fruit.

4. How do crayfish manage to exist equally comfortably both in water and on land? It turns out that wise nature provided them with two breathing instruments at once: lungs, ventilated by air on the surface of the earth, and gills, allowing them to breathe underwater. But over time, the second organ loses its functions, and palm thieves have to completely switch to a terrestrial lifestyle.

5. Those wishing to meet such a miracle would have to go to the tropics - coconut crabs are found on the islands of the Indian Ocean and on some western Pacific islands. It is not easy to see them in daylight: palm thieves are nocturnal, and in solar time hide in rock crevices or in sandy burrows lined with coconut fibers - this helps to maintain the required level of humidity in the home.

6. And although the version that the crayfish can crack a coconut with its front claws failed miserably, its limbs are nevertheless developed enough to quickly climb a palm tree trunk or bite off a person’s finger phalanx. And cancer is really not indifferent to coconuts: nutritious pulp is the main dish in its menu, to which it owes its “coconut” name.

7. Sometimes the diet of crayfish is enriched with the fruits of pandans, and according to some sources, palm thieves happen to eat their own kind. A hungry crayfish accurately finds the nearest "restaurant": an excellent sense of smell serves as an internal navigator, which brings it to the source of food, even if it is many kilometers away.

8. As for the "thieves' status" of cancer, this is to blame for its irrepressible desire to pull into its mink all sorts of things from the category of that which is bad - edible and not very.

Coconut crab meat is not only among the delicacies, but also belongs to aphrodisiacs, so these arthropods are actively hunted. In order to prevent their complete extinction, some countries have established severe restrictions on the capture of coconut crabs.

9. The body of the coconut crab, like all decapods, is divided into the front part (cephalothorax), on which there are 10 legs, and the stomach. The front, largest pair of legs has large claws (claws), and the left claw is much larger than the right one. The next two pairs, like those of other hermits, are large, powerful with sharp ends, used by coconut crabs to travel along vertical or inclined surfaces. The fourth pair of legs is much smaller than the first three, which allows young coconut crabs to settle in shells of mollusks or coconut shells, to protect themselves. Adults use this pair for walking and climbing. The last, very small pair, which is usually hidden inside the shell, is used by females to care for eggs, and by males for mating.

10. With the exception of the larval stage, coconut crabs cannot swim, and they will certainly drown if they stay in the water for more than an hour. For breathing, they use a special organ called gill lungs. This organ can be interpreted as a developmental stage between the gills and lungs, and is one of the most important adaptations of the coconut crab to its environment. Gill lungs contain tissues similar to those found in gills, but are suitable for absorbing oxygen from the air rather than water.

11. The coconut crab has a highly developed sense of smell, which it uses to find food. Like most water crabs, they have specialized organs located on their antennae that determine the concentration and direction of scent.

12. During the day, these arthropods sit in burrows or rock crevices, which are lined with coconut fibers or foliage to increase the humidity in the dwelling. While resting in its burrow, the coconut crab closes the entrance with one claw to maintain a humid microclimate in the burrow, which is necessary for its respiratory organs.

13. As the name suggests, this crab feeds on coconuts, and is actually able to climb a coconut tree, up to 6 meters high, where it plucks coconuts with powerful claws if they are not yet available on the ground. If a fallen coconut does not split when it falls, the crab will gut it for a week or even two until it gets to the juicy pulp of the nut. If this dreary job bothers the crab, he lifts the coconut up the tree and throws it down in order to make his work easier. Descending back to the ground, they sometimes fall, but without damage to health they can endure a fall from a height of 4.5 meters. The coconut crab will not refuse other fruits, newborn turtles and carrion. They have also been seen catching and eating Polynesian rats.

14. Another name for it is the palm thief, he received for his love for everything shiny. If a spoon, fork, or other shiny object gets in the way of a crab, you can be sure that he will certainly try to drag it into his mink.

15. From the beginning of June to the end of August, the palm thieves begin the breeding season. The courtship process lasts long and tedious, but the mating itself takes place quite quickly. The female carries fertilized eggs for several months on the underside of the abdomen. When the eggs are ready to hatch, the female descends to the seashore at high tide and releases the larvae into the water. During the next three to four weeks, the larvae floating in the water go through several stages of development. After 25 - 30 days, already small crabs sink to the bottom, settle in shells gastropods, and prepare to migrate to land. At this time, babies sometimes visit land, and gradually losing the ability to breathe underwater, they finally move to the main habitat. Coconut crabs reach sexual maturity about five years after hatching, but reach their maximum size only by the age of 40.

16. Palm thieves live in the tropics, on the islands of the Indian and western parts. Pacific Oceans. Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean has the highest population density of coconut crabs in the world.

17. Swedish and Australian scientists have confirmed the veracity of all the stories about coconut crabs. So, the inhabitants of the Pacific islands claimed that they could smell, for example, meat or ripe fruits a few kilometers away. And indeed, the special baits planted by the researchers immediately attracted the attention of thieving crabs, who nevertheless disdained the usual pieces of bread that ordinary crabs are greedy for.

18. The janitor function is, of course, not bad and useful, however, since the birgus latro creature is predominantly nocturnal and not very friendly, bumping into it, locals are not particularly enthusiastic. The decrease in its numbers forced the local authorities to set a limit on the capture of birgus latro. On papua new Guinea is forbidden to include it in restaurant menus, on the island of Saipan - to catch crabs with a shell of less than 3.5 cm, as well as from June to September, during the breeding season.

19. On inner surface The walls of the gill cavities of this terrestrial descendant of hermit crabs develop grape-like folds of skin, in which numerous blood vessels branch. These are real lungs, allowing the use of oxygen from the air filling the gill cavities. The lungs are ventilated due to the movements of scaphognathite, as well as due to the ability of animals to raise and lower the carapace from time to time, for which special muscles serve.

It is remarkable that the gills are also preserved, although they are relatively small in size. The removal of the gills did not harm the breath in the least; on the other hand, the crayfish has completely lost the ability to breathe in water. Submerged in water, the palm thief died after 4 hours. Residual gills, apparently, do not function. The palm thief digs shallow holes in the soil, which he lines with coconut fibers. Charles Darwin relates that the natives on some islands select these fibers from the burrows of the palm thief, which they need in their simple economy. Sometimes the palm thief is content with natural shelters - crevices in rocks, cavities in drained coral reefs, but even in such cases it uses plant material for their lining, which retains high humidity in housing.

Crabs, along with crayfish, are the most famous representatives of the crustacean order (and besides, delicacies that have not subsided in consumer demand for many years). But not all specimens of these animals go for food - sometimes fishermen catch giant individuals worthy of putting them in an aquarium and admiring this miracle of nature. Let's figure out what is the largest crab in the world?

This arthropod, belonging to the order Majidae, lives at a depth of four hundred meters in the Sea of ​​​​Japan and has a size that boggles the imagination. The largest crab in the world reaches a weight of twenty kilograms, the circumference of its shell is up to one and a half meters, and the length of each limb is almost four meters. The pincers themselves, which are powerful weapon, can be 40 centimeters long in males, females are usually smaller. Crabs of this species strongly resemble huge spiders, which is why they were called "giant spider crabs".

For the first time, a spider crab was described by a naturalist and traveler from Germany, E. Kampfer. The head and chest of an arthropod are protected by a flat shell ending in acute angle. The shell is richly covered with tubercles and spikes, which provides the animal with reliable protection from predators. In addition, the shell contains a huge amount of a substance called chitin, due to which it can resist the pressure of water. The joints in the legs of a crab have very smooth cartilages that reduce friction and allow the arthropod to move only sideways.

Scientists claim that the spider crab can live up to a hundred years, although the exact age of the oldest specimens has not been determined.

Functions Japanese spider crab for the ecosystem, they are about the same as those of the vulture bird: it eats the skeletons of dead marine animals, plants and mollusks. Because of this, the meat of adult crabs becomes somewhat bitter. Therefore, only young animals are suitable for human nutrition, and old individuals caught in the net are either released or sent to zoos and aquariums.

In 2013, the largest known representative of the species was caught in the waters near Tokyo - the crab, which was named Kong. The span of his legs was three meters, but the crab is still young and will continue to grow, so that according to forecasts in the future, he will be able to safely ride even a car. At first, the village fishermen planned to make soup from this large animal, but then changed their minds and called a biologist they knew, who came and bought Kong for the British zoo in Weysmouth. Thus, this crab became the largest ever kept in captivity. Soon it is planned to transport it to the Munich Zoo.

The number of these amazing animals is decreasing every year. The fact is that these crabs reach sexual maturity only in the tenth year of life, and until that time they live in smaller areas of water bodies, where there is a high risk of getting caught by poachers or predators. That is why the species is very vulnerable and needs protection. But on this moment the capture of its representatives is not limited by anything. The crab is caught both for eating because of its unusually tasty and tender meat, and for decorative purposes.

A specimen of this animal was caught off the Australian coast and weighed seven kilograms, which is much higher than the weight of its other relatives. The shell diameter was 38 centimeters. Its claws are comparable in size to the palm of an adult male. Although this crab is inferior in size to the champion - spider crab - it also looks very impressive.

When it reaches its maximum size, it is predicted to weigh up to 13 kilograms.

An animal caught by Australian fishermen was not sent to a restaurant to be eaten, but on the contrary, its quality of life was improved by being placed in an aquarium English city Weymouth, whose superiors did not hesitate to pay as much as five thousand dollars for a valuable copy. The crab was brought to the site by plane, so he spent almost 30 hours in flight. We can say that the animal was very lucky, because in its homeland it would be considered a delicacy.

Now Claude (as the arthropod was called) lives in comfort and satiety and pleases the eyes of those who come to look at the curiosity. He is meticulously cared for best conditions for growth and development. By the way, the life span of this species is approximately twenty years, and Claude is still quite young.

It has a second name - Kamchatka and is the largest crustacean in the Far East. Because of the most tender, nutritious and healthy meat, the animal is constantly hunted, including illegal ones. The king crab is a rather impressive and powerful representative of crustaceans, its shell can be up to 26-29 cm wide, its legs span up to one and a half meters, and its weight is up to 7 kg. Strong claws are located on the front pair of legs (moreover, the left claw is usually slightly smaller and weaker than the right one). With his right he gets food: destroys the shells of mussels, sea ​​urchins etc. And the left one is necessary for grinding food and placing it in the mouth.

At king crab quite a large area of ​​​​habitat: this is the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bJapan, the Bering Sea. According to the observations of zoologists, the largest population of crabs lives near the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and it is there that crab fishing takes place every year.

In the waters of our country, the king crab did not appear by chance, but was purposefully brought into the Barents Sea

Throughout their lives, they constantly travel, moving along a certain route depending on the season and on changes in water temperature. They hibernate at a depth of 250 meters, and in spring they approach the shore to search for a pair and breed. When a whole colony of long-legged crabs moves towards the shore along the bottom, the spectacle is amazing.

During the mating period, the female crab is able to lay an incredible number of eggs, up to three hundred thousand. She carries the formed larvae on her legs for a year. Approaching shallow water, the young hatch from eggs and let them swim independently, and mothers continue to move along their route as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately, most of the small crabs do not have time to grow up, becoming the prey of various marine predators.

Male king crab reach sexual maturity at about 9 years old, females a little earlier.

Here, even the name of the species speaks for itself. However, this crab is better known to the average Russian as brown crab. The body of the crab is oval in shape, with claws of medium length. The shell is usually reddish-brown.

An adult of this crab grows up to 25 centimeters long and weighs up to 3.5 kilograms. Nevertheless, there are cases in science when an animal has reached much greater parameters.

The habitat of a large land animal is the northern part of the Atlantic, but some individuals are even found in the Mediterranean Sea

Crabs are very unusual animals that are constantly hunted because of their meat. Let's hope that the contemplation of the largest representatives of the species will make hunters for easy money think.

Seeing this amazing arthropod, every faint of heart will shudder with horror and surprise - after all, there is no one in the world more interesting and, at the same time, more terrible than a coconut crab. In any case, among arthropods - after all, he is rightfully considered their largest representative.

(Total 33 photos)

1. The coconut crab has many other "names" such as the thief crab or the palm thief - after all, this strange arthropod really steals its prey. Travelers of past centuries, who have visited the islands spread in the West Pacific Ocean and in the Indian Ocean, talk about the fact that the coconut crab hides from prying eyes in the dense greenery of palm trees in order to suddenly grab its prey lying right under a tree or nearby From him.

2. Coconut crab (lat. Birgus latro) is actually not a crab at all, despite its striking resemblance to the arthropod relative mentioned in the name. This is a land hermit crab belonging to the species of decapods.

Strictly speaking, it is also a stretch to call a palm thief a land arthropod, since part of its life passes in the sea, and even tiny crustaceans are born in the water column. Newborn babies with a defenseless soft abdominal cavity are busily crawling along the bottom of the reservoir in search of a reliable house, which can serve as a nut shell, and an empty shell of a mollusk.

3. In "childhood" birgus latro is not too different from a hermit crab: he drags his shell along with him and spends almost all the time in the water. But having once left the larval state and left the water, he is no longer able to return there, and at some point even carry a shell-house behind him. Unlike the abdomens of hermit crabs, its abdomen is not an Achilles' heel and gradually hardens, and the tail curls under the body, protecting the body from cuts. Thanks to special lungs, he begins to breathe out of the water.

In truth, most of the legends noted this particular feature of it - the first Europeans who arrived on the islands described coconut crabs as creatures with long claws hiding in the foliage of trees, which unexpectedly stretched to the very ground and captured prey, up to sheep and goats. Scientists have confirmed that birgus latro has great strength and can lift up to 30 kg of weight. However, they found out that the crab uses its abilities to drag cargo from place to place, preferring to eat dead animals, crabs and fallen fruit.

4. How do crayfish manage to exist equally comfortably both in water and on land? It turns out that wise nature provided them with two breathing instruments at once: lungs, ventilated by air on the surface of the earth, and gills, allowing them to breathe underwater. But over time, the second organ loses its functions, and palm thieves have to completely switch to a terrestrial lifestyle.

5. Those wishing to meet such a miracle would have to go to the tropics - coconut crabs are found on the islands of the Indian Ocean and on some Western Pacific islands. It is not easy to see them in daylight: palm thieves are nocturnal, and in sunny time they hide in rock crevices or in sandy burrows lined with coconut fibers - this helps to maintain the required level of humidity in the home.

6. And although the version that the crayfish can crack a coconut with its front claws failed miserably, its limbs are nevertheless developed enough to quickly climb a palm tree trunk or bite off a person’s finger phalanx. And cancer is really not indifferent to coconuts: nutritious pulp is the main dish in its menu, to which it owes its “coconut” name.

7. Sometimes the diet of crayfish is enriched with the fruits of pandans, and according to some sources, palm thieves happen to eat their own kind. A hungry crayfish accurately finds the nearest "restaurant": an excellent sense of smell serves as an internal navigator, which brings it to the source of food, even if it is many kilometers away.

8. As for the "thieves' status" of cancer, this is due to its uncontrollable desire to pull into its mink all sorts of things from the category of the one that lies badly - edible and not very.

Coconut crab meat is not only among the delicacies, but also belongs to aphrodisiacs, so these arthropods are actively hunted. In order to prevent their complete extinction, some countries have established severe restrictions on the capture of coconut crabs.

9. The body of the coconut crab, like all decapods, is divided into the front part (cephalothorax), on which there are 10 legs, and the stomach. The front, largest pair of legs has large claws (claws), and the left claw is much larger than the right one. The next two pairs, like those of other hermits, are large, powerful with sharp ends, used by coconut crabs to travel along vertical or inclined surfaces. The fourth pair of legs is much smaller than the first three, which allows young coconut crabs to settle in shells of mollusks or coconut shells, to protect themselves. Adults use this pair for walking and climbing. The last, very small pair, which is usually hidden inside the shell, is used by females for egg care and by males for mating.

10. With the exception of the larval stage, coconut crabs cannot swim, and they will certainly drown if they stay in the water for more than an hour. For breathing, they use a special organ called gill lungs. This organ can be interpreted as a developmental stage between the gills and lungs, and is one of the most important adaptations of the coconut crab to its environment. Gill lungs contain tissues similar to those found in gills, but are suitable for absorbing oxygen from the air rather than water.

11. The coconut crab has a highly developed sense of smell, which it uses to find food. Like most water crabs, they have specialized organs located on their antennae that determine the concentration and direction of scent.

12. During the day, these arthropods sit in burrows or rock crevices, which are lined with coconut fibers or foliage to increase the humidity in the dwelling. While resting in its burrow, the coconut crab closes the entrance with one claw to maintain a humid microclimate in the burrow, which is necessary for its respiratory organs.

13. As the name suggests, this crab feeds on coconuts, and is actually able to climb a coconut tree, up to 6 meters high, where it plucks coconuts with powerful claws if they are not yet available on the ground. If a fallen coconut does not split when it falls, the crab will gut it for a week or even two until it gets to the juicy pulp of the nut. If this dreary job bothers the crab, he lifts the coconut up the tree and throws it down in order to make his work easier. Descending back to the ground, they sometimes fall, but without damage to health they can endure a fall from a height of 4.5 meters. The coconut crab will not refuse other fruits, newborn turtles and carrion. They have also been seen catching and eating Polynesian rats.

14. Another name for it is the palm thief, he received for his love for everything shiny. If a spoon, fork, or other shiny object gets in the way of a crab, you can be sure that he will certainly try to drag it into his mink.

15. From the beginning of June to the end of August, the palm thieves begin the breeding season. The courtship process lasts long and tedious, but the mating itself takes place quite quickly. The female carries fertilized eggs for several months on the underside of the abdomen. When the eggs are ready to hatch, the female descends to the seashore at high tide and releases the larvae into the water. During the next three to four weeks, the larvae floating in the water go through several stages of development. After 25 - 30 days, already small crabs sink to the bottom, settle in the shells of gastropod mollusks, and prepare to migrate to the ground. At this time, babies sometimes visit land, and gradually losing the ability to breathe underwater, they finally move to the main habitat. Coconut crabs reach sexual maturity about five years after hatching, but do not reach their maximum size until they are 40 years old.

16. Palm thieves live in the tropics, on the islands of the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean has the highest population density of coconut crabs in the world.

17. Swedish and Australian scientists have confirmed the veracity of all the stories about coconut crabs. So, the inhabitants of the Pacific islands claimed that they could smell, for example, meat or ripe fruits a few kilometers away. And indeed, the special baits planted by the researchers immediately attracted the attention of thieving crabs, who nevertheless disdained the usual pieces of bread that ordinary crabs are greedy for.

18. The janitor function is, of course, not bad and useful, however, since the birgus latro creature is predominantly nocturnal and not very friendly, stumbling upon it, the locals are not particularly enthusiastic. The decrease in its numbers forced the local authorities to set a limit on the capture of birgus latro. In Papua New Guinea, it is forbidden to include it in restaurant menus, on the island of Saipan - to catch crabs with a shell of less than 3.5 cm, and also from June to September, during the breeding season.

19. On the inner surface of the walls of the gill cavities, this terrestrial descendant of hermit crabs develop grape-like skin folds, in which numerous blood vessels branch. These are real lungs, allowing the use of oxygen from the air filling the gill cavities. The lungs are ventilated due to the movements of scaphognathite, as well as due to the ability of animals to raise and lower the carapace from time to time, for which special muscles serve.

It is remarkable that the gills are also preserved, although they are relatively small in size. The removal of the gills did not harm the breath in the least; on the other hand, the crayfish has completely lost the ability to breathe in water. Submerged in water, the palm thief died after 4 hours. Residual gills, apparently, do not function. The palm thief digs shallow holes in the soil, which he lines with coconut fibers. Charles Darwin relates that the natives on some islands select these fibers from the burrows of the palm thief, which they need in their simple economy. Sometimes the palm thief is content with natural shelters - crevices in rocks, cavities in drained coral reefs, but even in such cases he uses plant material to line them, which retains high humidity in the dwelling.