Kleptomaniac crab collars camera

@JudyEv (382026)
Rockingham, Australia
March 11, 2020 7:44am CST
I checked out the news this morning and thought you might to hear about the robber crabs that frequent Christmas Island, which is around 1,550 kilometres (960 mi) off Western Australia’s north-west coast. The robber or coconut crab, also known as the palm thief, is a terrestrial hermit crab and the world’s largest land-living arthropod. They can measure up to a metre wide, weigh 4 kgs (8.8 lbs) and has a life span of 80 to 90 years. A woman, who is studying the Christmas Island flying fox for her PhD, has had a $6,000 camera stolen, presumably by a crab. The camera was set on a tripod with an external battery and left running all night. In the morning, the tripod had been knocked over and there were claw marks where the camera had been ripped from the attached cables. Ms Dorrestein said she had had numerous encounters with the big crabs trying to make off with backpacks and camera gear. A spokesperson said the crabs have an acute sense of smell, are very curious and are known to have kleptomaniac tendencies. They often remove shoes and thongs (flipflops) from outside doors. I have lots of photos of road signs but not this one. The photo (courtesy David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) is from Wikimedia.
21 people like this
20 responses
@Ronrybs (21497)
• London, England
11 Mar 20
I guess one of the crabs wanted to start his own photo album!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
Perhaps they're all taking selfies!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Mar 20
@Ronrybs They might have a nice little home set up somewhere and they're busy furnishing it.
1 person likes this
@Ronrybs (21497)
• London, England
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv I wonder if they got a charger too?
1 person likes this
• Midland, Michigan
11 Mar 20
Funny road sign and idea that a crab stole her cameras. Possibly a person did the stealing and marked it up similar to a crab.
1 person likes this
• Midland, Michigan
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv so do people really think the crab dun it? When I first read this I thought Rebelann wrote it, lol.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
@MarshaMusselman The crabs have taken things before and the woman herself has chased them away from her equipment quite a few times.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
I suppose that might have happened but it's a very small island with not a lot of people on it.
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
11 Mar 20
What's weird to me is that the crab knew to rip the camera from the cables.
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
15 Mar 20
@JudyEv That is just amazing to me.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
They say they like to take things off then examine them at their leisure. I guess the crab was just trying to take the camera somewhere safer.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
15 Mar 20
@simone10 Seems really weird, doesn't it? lol
@amadeo (111937)
• United States
11 Mar 20
Good morning here.Interesting post.Thank you for sharing
1 person likes this
@amadeo (111937)
• United States
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv Looks that way.Tied me up and tied me down.lol
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
You're welcome. You'd have to tie everything down, wouldn't you?
@wolfgirl569 (135744)
• Marion, Ohio
11 Mar 20
I would not want those thieves around
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (135744)
• Marion, Ohio
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv Now if they could be trained it might be different.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
No. Who'd know what they'd take off with? They found one that had climbed up into a barbecue.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
@wolfgirl569 There should be something useful they could be trained to do.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (254926)
• United States
11 Mar 20
I’ve never heard of those crabs. They sound immense. Perhaps the robber will take a photo of the woman.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (254926)
• United States
12 Mar 20
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
He might be taking selfies!
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
15 Mar 20
Wow she should have been more careful with that camera lol
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Mar 20
She did have it tied down but obviously not good enough.
1 person likes this
@marlina (154103)
• Canada
11 Mar 20
Never heard of those.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
It's funny that they like to take stuff.
@RasmaSandra (98005)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
12 Mar 20
that is really interesting. I have never heard about these crabs. Does she have any hope in getting her camera back?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
She has chased them away before but this one was tied down overnight. Apparently they've searched all over the place but haven't found it.
1 person likes this
@thelme55 (79324)
• Germany
11 Mar 20
I have not heard of this intelligent crab. Thanks for sharing.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
It's an expensive camera to have stolen, isn't it?
1 person likes this
@thelme55 (79324)
• Germany
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv yes, it is indeed.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
11 Mar 20
@JudyEv That is weird or maybe not that a crab took the camera. That is a very different sign.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
I have lots of different road signs but I don't have this one. Here is one from Tasmania telling motorists to look out for platypuses.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv Thanks Judy and that is really cute.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222302)
• United States
11 Mar 20
My goodness! Now we have to watch out for robber crabs! Interesting post. Thanks!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
You never know what's lurking round the corner, do you?
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222302)
• United States
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv No, you don't.
1 person likes this
@CarolDM (203396)
• Nashville, Tennessee
11 Mar 20
Wow those crabs are incredible! Never heard of them.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
I hadn't either until I read the news article.
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
11 Mar 20
i suspect that made her a little crabby! sorry, no smart aleck filter today
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
At $6,000 I think she would be very crabby.
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
12 Mar 20
@JudyEv it would seem to me that there are better cameras to use for that purpose. But she used what she had.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (208897)
• United States
11 Mar 20
Hmmm, giant crabs..sounds like Mysterious Island... I hope the poor lady had insurance.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
I hope so too. That was one expensive camera.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (117226)
• El Paso, Texas
11 Mar 20
Oh wow, this sounds like something Vince would love to get a shot of. Maybe you can make it a point to go there just to try to get a few shots of those crabs to share with us ..... especially me cuz I don't travel and never get to see sea creatures
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
The island has a lot of coronavirus detainees on it at the moment from one of the cruise ships.
@xFiacre (14784)
• Ireland
11 Mar 20
@judyev Wow! Moreover, the thought of a crab trying to remove ones thong is staggering.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
To Australians, thongs are footwear I tell you - footwear!!
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
11 Mar 20
Are they a protected species?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
Apparently in some countries/islands it is locally extinct but otherwise the official classification is 'data deficient'.
1 person likes this
@Janet357 (75638)
11 Mar 20
this is a beautiful road. I never heard of this crab. but interesting facts about it.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
I hadn't heard of the crab either before this article came out.
@Nevena83 (66063)
• Serbia
11 Mar 20
I never heard of this crab.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Mar 20
It was news to me too.
1 person likes this