Coconut Crabs, the World's Largest Arthropod. Thank God It's Not A Spider!
Honestly when Robot Nine reader Shannon sent me this information I thought it was fake, an online hoax. But a little research verified the amazing Coconut Crab! A huge crab, probably as large as any animal with a hard exoskeleton can be. They grow up to a three foot leg span and are known as "robber crabs" because they will venture into a home or tent and steal shiny objects.
Coconut Crabs are found in areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and are eaten as a a delicacy. When the crab eats plants poisonous to humans they become poisonous also. In what sounds like a risky meal, slightly poisonous ones are considered an aphrodisiac.
More amazing is the crab's ability to use his powerful claws to actually climb trees. This surely is starting to sound like a creature from a science fiction movie.
This photo had me convinced that these crabs were fake. Surely this is a clever Photoshop creation, right? Turns out this is a real photo of a giant Coconut Crab raiding a garbage can, perhaps looking for old coconut parts or a shiny object to steal. If I have been duped then so has Wikipedia which is where more information can be found.
