Coconut Crab: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Ocean Oddities · day 5 of 7

Five facts

1. The coconut crab is the largest living land arthropod: up to 4.1 kg, and up to 90 cm from one leg tip to another.
2. Grown-up coconut crabs can't swim at all. Kept underwater for over an hour, they would drown.
3. A coconut crab can carry a coconut up a tree 10 m high, then drop it to get at the flesh inside.
4. To get down from a tree, a coconut crab often just lets go and drops. It can land safely from 4.5 m or higher.
5. A coconut crab is mature at around 5 years old, but only reaches full size after 40 to 60 years.

The quiz

1. How far can a coconut crab's leg span be, from one leg tip to another?

• 9 cm
• 19 cm
• 90 cm (correct)
• 190 cm

Measured from the tip of one leg to the tip of another, it can span 90 cm.

2. What would happen to an adult coconut crab kept underwater for over an hour?

• It drowns (correct)
• It grows
• It sheds its shell
• It lays eggs

Adults can't swim, so more than an hour underwater would drown them.

3. How high a tree can a coconut crab carry a coconut up?

• 1 m
• 10 m (correct)
• 100 m
• 50 m

It can carry a coconut up a tree 10 m high.

4. What can a coconut crab survive unhurt?

• A week underwater
• Freezing temperatures
• A bite from a rat
• A fall of at least 4.5 m (correct)

It often drops out of trees and can land safely from 4.5 m or higher.

5. After how many years does a coconut crab reach its maximum size?

• 1 to 2
• 5 to 10
• 40 to 60 (correct)
• 100 to 120

It only reaches its maximum size after 40 to 60 years.

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