Tag: Arthropod

ooksaidthelibrarian:

strangebiology:

The Coconut Crab has the World’s Strongest Grip

Researchers in Okinawa measured the gripping force of 29 coconut crabs, and found that strength corresponded with size. The biggest recorded crab should then have a strength of 3,300 Newtons–stronger than the bite force of any animal except alligators. 

One of the researchers was pinched twice by the animals while studying them, which, until the crab decided to let go, was a very painful experience. “While it was only a few minutes, I felt eternal hell,” the researcher said. 
(Read more in my PBS Newshour article)

I have been pinched by several land hermit crabs (Coenobita sp.), smaller relatives of the coconut crab and THAT was painful as hell and there was no way of pulling them off without hurting myself even more. They were all smaller than a golf ball. I do not want to experience this from a coconut crab.

Source: strangebiology

why-animals-do-the-thing:

eartharchives:

The coconut crab is an incredible crustacean. It’s a terrestrial hermit crab and the biggest land-living arthropod in the world, reaching possibly the biggest sizes an animal with exoskeleton can reach outside of water in modern times (In the Carboniferous period, when oxygen levels in the atmosphere were higher, insects and other arthropods could get even bigger due to their way of breathing).

Peculiarly for a crab, they feed mostly on nuts, fruits and other vegetable matter and instinctivelly climb trees for protection!

We’ve talked about these guys before, but I haven’t ever seen a photo that shows them having such intense pigmentation! 

Source: predatorsandpreys