From the coconut crab's Wikipedia entry:
- The coconut crab is the largest living arthropod, a biological phylum that includes insects and arachnids in addition to crustaceans.
- Its leg span can reach 6.5 feet across.
- On one occasion, the coconut crab was observed to eat a rat.
- Its German name — Palmendieb, means "palm thief" — comes from the animal's ability to tear open the extremely tough shell of the coconut. (What such pincers could do to your relatively thin hide is better left to your imagination). The coconut crab climbs up palm tree trunks — meaning that they can appear at eye level, horrifyingly — and then attempts cut into the coconut while it's on the tree, often causing the fruit to fall to the ground. (People used to think they purposely knocked coconuts off trees, but they've apparently since realized that they're too dumb to make that kind of agenda.)
from flickr user fearlessRich
from flickr user AnnaPang03
from flickr user salpet
You're most likely to run into one of these monsters on Christmas Island than anywhere else, but report back with nightmares nonetheless.