Animal Unique | Coconut Crab | The Coconut crab is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is known for his ability to crack coconuts with a powerful tool for content to eat. It is sometimes called the Robber crab because some coconut crabs are rumored to shiny objects such as pots and silverware from houses and tents to steal. It can be found on the islands in the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific as far east as the Gambier Islands, mirroring the distribution of the coconut palm, it is eradicated from most areas with a significant human population, including the mainland Australia and Madagascar.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Superfamily: Paguroidea
Family: Coenobitidae
Genus: Birgus, Leach, 1816
Species: B. latro
Coconut crabs are considered one of the most terrestrial decapods, with most aspects of his life were associated with an earthly existence, they will drown in sea in less than one day. Coconut crabs live alone in underground burrows and rock crevices, depending on local terrain. They dig their own burrows in sand or loose soil. During the day, the animal remains hidden to reduce water loss from heat. They are sold as pets in markets such as Tokyo. The diet of Coconut crabs consists primarily of fleshy fruits, nuts and seeds, and the marrow of fallen trees. However, if they are omnivores, they consume organic materials such as turtle boy and dead animals.
Coconut crab is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world, reports on the size of Coconut crab vary, but most sources indicate a maximum height of 40 cm, weighing 4.1 kg, and a leg span of more than 0, 91 m, with males generally are larger than females. The shield can reach a length of 78 mm and a width of 200 mm. The body of the Coconut crab, like that of all decapods, divided into a front section (cephalothorax), which has 10 legs and abdomen. The front pair of legs has large claws (claws), with left greater than right. The next two pairs, as with other hermit crabs, are large, powerful walking legs with pointed ends, allowing vertical or overhanging Coconut crabs to climb surfaces.
The fourth pair of legs is smaller with a tweezer-like claws at the end which young Coconut crabs on the inside of a shell or coconut shell to perform for the protection of grip, adults use this pair for walking and climbing. The last pair of legs is very small and is used by women to tend to their eggs and the males in mating. This last pair of legs is usually held in the scale, in the cavity in which the respiratory organs. There is some difference in color between the animals found on different islands, ranging from orange-red to purple-blue, in most regions, blue is the predominant color, but in some places, including the Seychelles, most people are red. Although Coconut crab is a derived type of hermit crab, only the young people to use salvaged snail shells to protect their soft abdomens, and adolescents sometimes use broken coconut on their bellies to protect. Unlike other hermit crabs, Coconut crab do not carry the adult shells, but instead harden their abdominal terga by depositing chitin and chalk.
The Coconut crab has a well developed sense of smell, which it uses to locate its food. The process of smelling works very differently depending on whether the smoke molecules are hydrophilic or hydrophobic molecules in water molecules in the air. It is a general impression is that the coconut crab cuts the coconuts from the tree to eat them on the floor. The Coconut crab is a coconut from the ground and cut a nut shell, take it with his claw. Adult coconut crabs have no known predators themselves apart from other Coconut crabs and people. The large size and the quality of the coconut crab meat that is hunted extensively and is rare on the islands with a human population.
Animal Unique