The animal world is something we are yet to completely discover. Whether it’s the debts of the ocean or the countless species flourishing in the rain forests and deserts, it is truly magical. Even the animals that we already know of can surprise us a great deal! Just ask the king of the animals, David Attenborough! The respect and admiration I have for this man is immeasurable! In this video, he shows us yet another animal world wonder, this time about some crabs… I hope you and David will forgive me for the shameless puns. Please and thank you.
Crab Fest!
David’s adventures are the talk of the town and the envy of the world. He has lived the life of travel and constant discovery that we all dream to have. If you want to learn how to human, just follow the legend that is David Attenborough. But let’s focus on his focus in this video. This is an excerpt from episode 3 titled “Home” from the natural history television series Life Story broadcast on BBC in November 2014.
As the Wikipedia page says, for these hermit crabs, “home is the shell on its back”. So when one unoccupied shell washes ashore, the nearby hermit crabs line up and start exchanging shells. This exquisite chain reaction is a sight to see! Who could believe that crabs could behave so ‘civilized’? The hermit crabs line up by size and occupy the shells that correspond with their size. Unbelievable!
Survival of the crabbest!
They have been doing this since crabs came into existence! This is not a one time occurrence. I can’t believe this is not something people talk about every day! Nature is so amazing in ways we can’t even imagine. Crabs, much like any living thing in the world, grow as time passes by. But their shells stay the same size. So how do they always have a shell that fits? We finally got the answer, they find a smaller and a bigger friends and exchange the shells until everybody is happy. Or at least almost everybody…
This line-up consists of quite a few crabs and when you see them lining up according to size it will make your jaw drop. Keep in mind crabs cannot survive in the tropical sun for too long, so this exchange needs to happen quickly lest they suffer the consequences. It is quite dramatic when you think about it!