The Colossal Coconut Crab | South Pacific | BBC Earth

Thank you BBC Earth for showing us folks who do not get the chance to travel see the wonders of this earth

During WW2 US Marines deployed to the South Pacific encountered these. To test the strength of their claws, a curious Marine handed one a wooden broom handle. The crab broke it easily. My uncle told us that story when I was a kid; we were thrilled.

Decapods, (crabs, lobsters, etc.) can generate the greatest force per LB of body mass with their claws of any group of animals. The most powerful of which is this coconut crab, while only weighing in at about ~10 pounds can lift over 66 pounds, and the pinch from their claws nearly matches a lions bite. (740 pound-force — a force about 90 times their own body weight) They are in the top 15 strongest bite forces in the animal kingdom.

Now dats a big crab

In summer of 2017 i took a two month vacation in American Samoa. On the smaller three islands of Manua (Ofu, Olosega and Ta'u) i got the opportunity with a local man named Manaia to trap and capture coconut crabs called U'u in Samoan language pronounced (oo-oo). During the day we made the bait for the crabs by cracking in half coconuts and drilling a small hole with drill in each half. Running heavy gage electric wire through holes we then hiked up to the base of a cliff just outside the village in a thick grove of coconut palms. We located the crabs burrows by the piles of shredded coconut husks around entrance to burrows. If you don't see these piles of shredded husk nobody's home. Pick a spot to set the bait not too far away but not too close from burrows and tie the wire around trunks of small bushes. Then come back at around 2 am and very quietly retrace the path with a small flashlight making sure you keep light pointing to ground so not to startle the crab not talking or making any sound. Crabs can easily see the light of an approaching person and have a primitive sense of detecting sound. If they sense danger they will stop eating and go back to safety of their burrows. The trick is to sneak up on them. This is why the bait must be set away from their burrows and the wire is to prevent their claws from cutting through and dragging the bait back into their burrows. The local guy Manaia if a crab crawled back into its burrow he would reach his whole arm in and feel for crabs head and with a quick upward thrust of thumb through the mouth basically snapping its neck killing crab instantly. If this is not done the crabs fight for their lives by anchoring their legs in burrows where you will not pull them out! Also to avoid getting hand pinched and badly maimed these crabs claws are like bolt cutters and will sever a finger! Anyways after he filled a large rice sack we walked back down to his friends house and washed the crabs in the shower room. Its taboo in Samoa to speak a word during this whole time because the spirits might smell the crabs and follow you home causing bad luck to your household. The best time to hunt is right after a night time rain as the moisture is needed to keep their lungs so they can breathe better and have energy to crawl around. The crabs were brought back to the Asaga (ah-sang-ah) Inn on island of Ofu. The Asaga Inn is a family run tourist lodging and we feasted on coconut crabs on Fathers Day! The best part is the fatty tail. Because the crabs diet is mostly coconut their bodies store the coconut oil in the tail pad as a energy source like a camels hump. When crabs are cooked the fat turns into liquid oil and tastes just like coconut. Because the crabs are land crabs the meat is bland tasting so you dip the meat into the oil for seasoning instead of melted butter. Word of warning don't indulge in the crab tail oil though because, well how do i politly put it?....You will have to suddenly walk quickly to the toilet as the coconut crab has its revenge! Take a vacation to Samoa and you will have an experience of a lifetime!!! Any traveling you have feel free to comment and i will respond as soon as i can. Thx!

At 1:20, subtitles are saying " Although these crimes are found throughout the Pacific" 😂

lmao the added sound effects get me every time

2:14 That's quite a feat! The next time I run 5K, I'll try carrying a coconut.

Well, Tamatoa hasn't always been this glam. I was a drab little crab once...

Saw these on Diego Garcia. They are utterly terrifying up close but luckily very slow and relatively shy.

That's one armoured tooled up beast

The coconut crab isn't just partial to coconuts. Meat is also on the menu if the opportunity arises. I've seen a video of one maiming a nesting bird in a tree. The bird fell from the tree and couldn't fly as the crab had nipped at it's wing. The rest of the coconut crabs then closed in on the injured bird and proceeded to rip it to pieces while it was still alive. Nature can be very cruel. Anyone for crabsticks?!

This would be a good horror movie

What a BEAUTIFUL SIGHT to wake up too! 🤩

Who are they robbing from? The coconuts belong to everyone. You keep your accusations to yourself!

And that kids is how Mounds bars are made.

Great stuff! Thank you.

A few shakes Is all it takes.

Utterly fascinating! More please...

I'll be back in two shakes of a crabs tail.