Coconut Crab: The Bigest Terrestrial Arthropod In The World!
Imagine crabs that can eat kittens! Among terrestrial arthropods, the phylum that includes crustaceans, spiders and insects, coconut crabs are the largest on the planet. The crabs, which live on islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, can grow up to three feet across and weigh nine pound (4.1 kg).
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It has the ability to crack or pound open coconuts with its strong pincers. The soft white meat of the coconut forms the main part of the crab’s diet. So how does this creature actually find its food? Well, it finds food with its extremely well-developed sense of smell. Like an insect, it uses antennae to zero in on its vittles, but takes this to an extreme by devoting considerable brainpower to the sense.
Some believe this excellent sense of smell, in fact, led the coconut crabs to a dead or dying Amelia Earhart. According to one theory, Earhart did not drown in the Pacific but instead crash landed on Nikumaroro, a remote atoll in the Pacific. However, it is only a rumor.
Well, coconut crab can almost eat everything from kittens to items like its own exoskeleton.
