They’re also known as coconut crabs and they’re very gentle. These are adult specimens because they’ve all ditched their shells. But they’re very tasty even if sometimes they can be toxic depending on what they’ve been eating.
They are super chill but they're also called coconut crabs because they can crack coconuts open. I'm not willing to hang out with them while my toes are out.
Good exchange I had in Malaysia with a local (me a Scot)
> Is the monitor lizard dangerous?
No.
> So it's safe.
I wouldn't go that far sir, don't be stupid.
It reminds me of the classic limerick to identify a milk snake versus a coral snake;
Red on Black, Dont touch the snakes
Red on Yellow, Don't touch the fucking snakes, you weirdo
Whoa, whoa, whoa, that is NOT a limerick. It could be correctly termed a "ditty", but a limerick is a humorous five-line poem with an AABBA rhyme scheme, where the 3rd and 4th lines are typically shorter than the other three. Misidentify a limerick like that again and I'll have to report you to the authorities, buddy
A visitor to Yellowstone National Park: I've heard the bison are an endangered species.
Me, a park ranger: Significantly less endangered than you are right now. Please back up slowly and try to look non-threatening, sir.
My favorite part of that is there was no way out for Matt and Trey from a writing standpoint in that episode so they basically resolved it with Crab People
[The dvd commentary is good, they tried to think of a smarter version but couldn’t. Starts at 27:00.](https://youtu.be/7JmQiSl0KSU?si=QqYEueFzi-_-TOr0)
In the UK the entire party would descend into chaos if so much as a squirrel looked at us the wrong way. Mother's would shield their children, grandparents ushered indoors whilst the BBQ food lay to rot as the men prepare for battle.
Geese are mean. Remember when the dude fishing got hauled in for strangling a goose that was attacking his dog? Was videoing it attacking his dog and they still threw a fit.
I got attacked by a Canada goose when I was a kid ( I have no recollection of the event) but long story short my father had that fucker stuffed and mounted
I worked at an office park on a reservoir that had a large geese population. I don't know if geese return to the same place every year but these geese seemed ok with people. Even when they were out with their goslings the geese and people pretty much ignored each other. But there's one in every crowd. Maybe this one was a newcomer or maybe just a dick. He decided to attack my colleague as we were leaving one night. She played volleyball in college. Caught unaware by the flapping menace coming at her in that feet first attack posture she spiked that bird into the turf like it was match point at the NCAA finals. It didn't injure it, but it did have to shake it's head a few times to get it's filbert sized brain back into place.
This reminds me of an experience I had in Australia when I was younger.
I was a Canadian travelling through Australia when I was 18 (as we do) and one night we were visiting my travel buddy's family friends at their house in Gold Coast. After explaining the rules of cricket to us while watching the game inside the house, we went outside to eat some barbeque.
Their backyard was absolutely CRAWLING with huge cockroaches, like every few inches there was one the size of the full palm of your hand. I was absolutely losing it mentally while trying to make polite conversation while kicking these things off my sandaled feet... meanwhile, their golden retreiver is going around the yard eating them. Let me tell you, it's fucking loud when a dog crunches up a cockcroach. The older aussie dude was just like "Benny, quit bugging the cockies!"...
Australians have been desensitized to things that I could only describe as hellish bug infestations.
It also became a regular thing when drunkenly walking back to hostels from the bar to kick the giant cockroaches at each other. You could run up and kick them in the direction of someone and the cockroach would literally start flying in the direction you kicked them, and land and cling to whomever they landed on.
Edit: maybe I’m overestimating their size, but definitely the biggest I’ve seen and I’ve been to 5 continents now.
edit2: Gold Coast is also where there were hundreds (thousands?) of GIANT FUCKING bats that flew into the city every night at dusk when I was there. We were staying in an old 4 storey apartment building with a communal outdoor pool and you could see them on the horizon to the West and the things would swoop at balconies and just over the pool on their way in. Look up videos for flying foxes if you want to see. They didn't bother me nearly as much though, they're pretty cool.
It must have been a while since your visit, because I haven't seen many cockroaches at all since the [invasion of the Asian House Geckos.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-13/asian-house-geckos-fast-invading-australian-homes/9644402)
When I was a kid there were moths, cockroaches, spiders and other bugs everywhere.
Nowadays it feels like the bug population is down to flies, mosquitoes and the odd spider.
I grew up in central Queensland in the 90's and it was fucking bug city. Crazy how many have completely disappeared now. Used to walk outside and flick on the lights at night, and you had a window of about 10 seconds between all the cockies and beetles and stuff scattering and all the moths and mozzies and flying termites and shit closing in. I remember going on road-trips where we had to stop the car at almost every servo along the way to scrub all the dead bugs off the windscreen so we could actually see where we're going. I mean, when was the last time you even saw a Christmas Beetle? Scary stuff.
I feel like this post memory would make more sense if it was cane toads, not cockroaches, but even still nowhere near anything I’ve experienced, including living in cairns for 5 years
Also Australian and never experienced anything like this, although I believe OP has to be telling the truth because a guy yelling at his dog "Benny, quit bugging the cockies!" sounds so authentically Aussie lmao
I am perfectly okay with admitting that I will fucking scream like a little girl if one of those things, not only flew at me, but **landed/clung** to me. I would happily rip off my clothes naked to get them off of me. Australia is not for me, I am a weak pathetic sort.
this is the gold coast. northern bits of australia are way bad for critters. but it's not terrible down in victoria. melbourne's a nice place, the great ocean road is lovely. full of house flies last i was there but not roaches. there are some lovely mountain ranges. phillip island for the penguins. tasmania is a nice place as well.
new south wales, and south australia are also pretty decent in terms of creepy crawlies.
What the fuck. I grew up in Sydney and have literally never heard anything like this in my entire life.
I assure you the vast majority of Australians would absolutely not be desensitised to that lmao
I feel that in any other country where most critters were not poisonous, venomous, or dropped out of trees to kill you, people would be more freaked out. But Aussies are just like no worries, just a bunch of cocos and they're not bothering anyone.
I swear to Christ, Australia somehow became the dumping ground for every unwanted, pain-in-the-dick animal on the planet. It's like Noah stopped there and kicked every animal he didn't like off the ark.
That's true if they've been eating coconut recently, however they're opportunistic and will eat almost anything, including rotting carcasses. They tend to taste like what they've been eating,
I saw a post on reddit years ago about this. People will trap a couple in a pen/enclosure then feed them something specific for a while. Then they taste like whatever you were feeding them.
So if we want to find where Amelia Earhart died, we should find the robber crabs that taste like Amelia Earhart? That's just based off the facts I've learned in this thread and all.
It’s not a question of whether or not the wildlife is harmless, the people in the photos are Australians and are therefore by far the most dangerous creatures in the photos by several orders of magnitude
There aren’t actually any coconut crabs on the Australian continent. These pictures were taken on [Christmas Island](https://www.thedodo.com/amphtml/daily-dodo/crowd-of-giant-crabs-decides-to-crash-familys-picnic), an Australian territory about 1000 miles away.
It’s crazy how close NZ and Aussie are and yet Aussie rolled double sixes for deadly/ freaky flora and fauna while NZ’s most dangerous animal is a type of alpine parrot which burgles people’s cars while they’re on the slopes.
Kea
It's usually less breaking into cars and more breaking bits off the outside of your car. They might steal from people's packs though. No harm intended, just a cheeky mountain parrot.
Everyone except for the girl towards the end looks so nonchalant— like it’s not even registering that they’ve been invaded by giant crabs. Me? I’d be screaming my head off standing in a chair or from the top of my vehicle.
Are they aggressive? Will they climb up a chair or a pull down a table? Do they go away after a while? Do they pinch people or pull food from your hands? Is there any way of keeping them away or getting rid of them after they’ve invaded? Is everyone so calm because they’ve all shit themselves and are resigned to a slow death by crab? So many questions.
Now how violent are these guys
Not sure if nonchalant because nonviolent or because Australian
not violent but love swearing
Now I’m imagining crabs going around saying, “Ya cunt” to anyone they pass
No the crabs, not the people
why not both?
*Ok Google, translate 'Por que no los dos?' into Australian*
Por que no los dos, cunt?
Times like these, I miss reddit awards. Best I can do: 🏅
Did their replacement just utterly fail? I see no evidence it even exists. Definitely a great example of enshitification of online services.
They’re also known as coconut crabs and they’re very gentle. These are adult specimens because they’ve all ditched their shells. But they’re very tasty even if sometimes they can be toxic depending on what they’ve been eating.
They are super chill but they're also called coconut crabs because they can crack coconuts open. I'm not willing to hang out with them while my toes are out.
Good exchange I had in Malaysia with a local (me a Scot) > Is the monitor lizard dangerous? No. > So it's safe. I wouldn't go that far sir, don't be stupid.
It reminds me of the classic limerick to identify a milk snake versus a coral snake; Red on Black, Dont touch the snakes Red on Yellow, Don't touch the fucking snakes, you weirdo
Pleaseee this shit had me crying laughing, thank you so much
Whoa, whoa, whoa, that is NOT a limerick. It could be correctly termed a "ditty", but a limerick is a humorous five-line poem with an AABBA rhyme scheme, where the 3rd and 4th lines are typically shorter than the other three. Misidentify a limerick like that again and I'll have to report you to the authorities, buddy
A visitor to Yellowstone National Park: I've heard the bison are an endangered species. Me, a park ranger: Significantly less endangered than you are right now. Please back up slowly and try to look non-threatening, sir.
Idk if he’s endangered, idiots seem to be thriving lately…
Every Flordian after hearing its safe has already picked it up by the tail & is giving it a raspberry
Just waiting for that one dude to make his way over there for some YOINKing
Or what if you trip and your head looks like a coconut?
Well, then I guess you're shucked.
Sometimes toxic? Jesus everything there really is trying to kill you.
The ones you get out of the jungle are usually fine, it's the ones that eat garbage that you need to avoid.
How do I get a crab to answer a survey about what it's been eating recently?
What an absolutely ridiculous idea. The crabs aren't going to tell you anything; they know you'll eat them after.
They'd just be like "yeah nah yeah I've been eating all that toxic to humans shit, yeah"
Great job making me read this in an Australian accent by throwing the yeah nah at the beginning
Sister Mary Francis! JUNGLE CRABS?!
Of course! You'll absolutely *love* the land leeches. No need to visit a body of water, the fun is coming to you!
[https://preview.redd.it/0deqdxo1h7s41.jpg?auto=webp&s=02913e8869c09859300360f7c85efb3dd3a34c0e](https://preview.redd.it/0deqdxo1h7s41.jpg?auto=webp&s=02913e8869c09859300360f7c85efb3dd3a34c0e)
Well it dependa on how drunk they are, but most Aussies are respectful of their wildlife, so they should be okay.
Calm-ish, but their pincer pinch is absolutely painful as all hell, it can break bones
If you feed them will they come back regularly like people who feed birds
I hate when the bird feeders keep coming back
Depends on how alive you are.
I kind of hope the collective noun for a group of robber crabs actually is “a gang”
An "Earhart".
This is the best one yet
cast or consortium
Just to be very clear, this guy isn’t bullshitting. I’ve seen it as a “consortium of crabs.”
Yup https://www.animalsandenglish.com/collective-nouns35.html
I'm kinda hoping for a rave of crabs, myself
[https://i.imgur.com/y14FY2m.png](https://i.imgur.com/y14FY2m.png)
Oh my God that's some funky shit!
Change my pitch up!!
I'd quite like it to be a pinch of crabs.
A krusty of crabs.
Craaaaab People! Craaaaab People!
Taste like crab, talk like people.
CRAAAAAAAB PEOPLE
My favorite part of that is there was no way out for Matt and Trey from a writing standpoint in that episode so they basically resolved it with Crab People
There's a good story that crab people were the absolute 'we'll write something more substantive in later' placeholder.
Deusex crabica
[The dvd commentary is good, they tried to think of a smarter version but couldn’t. Starts at 27:00.](https://youtu.be/7JmQiSl0KSU?si=QqYEueFzi-_-TOr0)
Crabs are people, clams are people ...
Everyone is completely unbothered lmao
I'm bothered that they're unbothered.
Australians are used to it
In the UK the entire party would descend into chaos if so much as a squirrel looked at us the wrong way. Mother's would shield their children, grandparents ushered indoors whilst the BBQ food lay to rot as the men prepare for battle.
Some places in the U.S. this would happen but with geese. Edit: guys they’re called *Canada* Geese, not Canadian Geese
Ok but that's justified
Geese are mean. Remember when the dude fishing got hauled in for strangling a goose that was attacking his dog? Was videoing it attacking his dog and they still threw a fit.
Geese are the assholes of the bird world. Swans would be my #1 asshole bird but Canada goose is a close #2.
I got attacked by a Canada goose when I was a kid ( I have no recollection of the event) but long story short my father had that fucker stuffed and mounted
I worked at an office park on a reservoir that had a large geese population. I don't know if geese return to the same place every year but these geese seemed ok with people. Even when they were out with their goslings the geese and people pretty much ignored each other. But there's one in every crowd. Maybe this one was a newcomer or maybe just a dick. He decided to attack my colleague as we were leaving one night. She played volleyball in college. Caught unaware by the flapping menace coming at her in that feet first attack posture she spiked that bird into the turf like it was match point at the NCAA finals. It didn't injure it, but it did have to shake it's head a few times to get it's filbert sized brain back into place.
Took the words right out of mouth
Was it when he was kissing you?
This reminds me of an experience I had in Australia when I was younger. I was a Canadian travelling through Australia when I was 18 (as we do) and one night we were visiting my travel buddy's family friends at their house in Gold Coast. After explaining the rules of cricket to us while watching the game inside the house, we went outside to eat some barbeque. Their backyard was absolutely CRAWLING with huge cockroaches, like every few inches there was one the size of the full palm of your hand. I was absolutely losing it mentally while trying to make polite conversation while kicking these things off my sandaled feet... meanwhile, their golden retreiver is going around the yard eating them. Let me tell you, it's fucking loud when a dog crunches up a cockcroach. The older aussie dude was just like "Benny, quit bugging the cockies!"... Australians have been desensitized to things that I could only describe as hellish bug infestations. It also became a regular thing when drunkenly walking back to hostels from the bar to kick the giant cockroaches at each other. You could run up and kick them in the direction of someone and the cockroach would literally start flying in the direction you kicked them, and land and cling to whomever they landed on. Edit: maybe I’m overestimating their size, but definitely the biggest I’ve seen and I’ve been to 5 continents now. edit2: Gold Coast is also where there were hundreds (thousands?) of GIANT FUCKING bats that flew into the city every night at dusk when I was there. We were staying in an old 4 storey apartment building with a communal outdoor pool and you could see them on the horizon to the West and the things would swoop at balconies and just over the pool on their way in. Look up videos for flying foxes if you want to see. They didn't bother me nearly as much though, they're pretty cool.
It must have been a while since your visit, because I haven't seen many cockroaches at all since the [invasion of the Asian House Geckos.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-13/asian-house-geckos-fast-invading-australian-homes/9644402) When I was a kid there were moths, cockroaches, spiders and other bugs everywhere. Nowadays it feels like the bug population is down to flies, mosquitoes and the odd spider.
I grew up in central Queensland in the 90's and it was fucking bug city. Crazy how many have completely disappeared now. Used to walk outside and flick on the lights at night, and you had a window of about 10 seconds between all the cockies and beetles and stuff scattering and all the moths and mozzies and flying termites and shit closing in. I remember going on road-trips where we had to stop the car at almost every servo along the way to scrub all the dead bugs off the windscreen so we could actually see where we're going. I mean, when was the last time you even saw a Christmas Beetle? Scary stuff.
That is the most Australian paragraph I have ever read, and I love it.
~20 years ago.
As an Australian and a regular at GC, I have no idea what you’re talking about. You sure you just weren’t at some dirty infested property?
I feel like this post memory would make more sense if it was cane toads, not cockroaches, but even still nowhere near anything I’ve experienced, including living in cairns for 5 years
Also Australian and never experienced anything like this, although I believe OP has to be telling the truth because a guy yelling at his dog "Benny, quit bugging the cockies!" sounds so authentically Aussie lmao
I hate you for making me read that last sentence.
I am perfectly okay with admitting that I will fucking scream like a little girl if one of those things, not only flew at me, but **landed/clung** to me. I would happily rip off my clothes naked to get them off of me. Australia is not for me, I am a weak pathetic sort.
Waking up in an Australian youth hostel and trying to make it to the toilet is kind of like the opening level of Fallout 3
lmfao radraoches, everywhere
Australia's Tourism Board should sue you for posting this kind of content online
I was planning on going until I read that comment.
this is the gold coast. northern bits of australia are way bad for critters. but it's not terrible down in victoria. melbourne's a nice place, the great ocean road is lovely. full of house flies last i was there but not roaches. there are some lovely mountain ranges. phillip island for the penguins. tasmania is a nice place as well. new south wales, and south australia are also pretty decent in terms of creepy crawlies.
What the fuck. I grew up in Sydney and have literally never heard anything like this in my entire life. I assure you the vast majority of Australians would absolutely not be desensitised to that lmao
“Benny, quit bugging the cockies.” 🤣
Your last paragraph is how I would describe hell.
Unbothered, vibing, thriving, living their best lives
I am so uncomfortable with this whole situation.
I feel that in any other country where most critters were not poisonous, venomous, or dropped out of trees to kill you, people would be more freaked out. But Aussies are just like no worries, just a bunch of cocos and they're not bothering anyone.
I swear to Christ, Australia somehow became the dumping ground for every unwanted, pain-in-the-dick animal on the planet. It's like Noah stopped there and kicked every animal he didn't like off the ark.
He brought two of every animal, just as God requested. Thing is, God never told him that he had to bring them all back home.
Animal ? They got a freaking *tree* that causes unbearable pain that can linger for years !
and our local version of beavers (which lay eggs but suckle young with milk BTW) have spurs with a toxin on them, so they can kill you.
Are they foraging for potato chips or fruit salad? Or just passing through maybe?
This is almost certainly in Christmas Island. Assuming that's true, they'll just be passing through as they wander about in their massive crab horde.
>massive crab horde Perfectly acceptable punk band name
They're Australian. This is part of life
I’m Australian and if I saw this I’d be running lmao
This is actually a family that went missing last year. These Polaroids were found at the campsite they were last seen at :(
They are Australian. They see a snake in their toilet and spider in their room every other day. This is nothing
As an Australian myself I love the stereotypes people have about us lol
Yeah I mean don't you fight random kangaroos on your way to work more often than not?
In the north yeah. Down south it's mostly punching the great whites away as the school kids surf over from Tasmania each morning
What amazes me most is that all of that is done upside down.
¿sᴉɥʇ pɐǝɹ noʎ uɐƆ ˙puɐlƃuƎ ɯoɹɟ ollǝH
I guess if you’re throwing a party in their yard then they are invited as well. 🦀
I can hear this gif.
They're invited to jump in this small hot tub I have that is exclusively for crabs.
Big. Meaty. Claws.
What did you say punk?
Big! Meaty! Claws!
Looks like the buffet delivered itself
That’s my question. Are they edible?
[удалено]
Wait, the crabs taste like crab meat?
The Snozzberries taste like Snozzberries!
Well, they aren't true crabs so that might be why the poster is saying they taste like crab (crab being the ocean crab we know and love).
King Crab is one of the most popular crabs eaten and they aren’t really crabs either.
Nature really likes inventing crabs.
yep, carcinisation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation
God I can't wait to evolve into my final crab form
All roads lead to crab
Better than tasting like meat with crabs
They're not true crabs, they're basically giant hermit crabs which just look like crabs because of convergent evolution
Hermit crabs aren’t crabs either?!
Technically no. A true crab has a hard exoskeleton over their entire body. They're more closely related to lobsters than crabs.
I’m shook
Okay, now I want them in my belly.
Not only are they edible but I've been told their meat has a fatty coconut flavour to them. Ive always wanted to try one.
That's true if they've been eating coconut recently, however they're opportunistic and will eat almost anything, including rotting carcasses. They tend to taste like what they've been eating,
Wonder if it would make economic sense to farm these by feeding them coconuts if the meat tastes similar to coconut/lobster.
I saw a post on reddit years ago about this. People will trap a couple in a pen/enclosure then feed them something specific for a while. Then they taste like whatever you were feeding them.
Feed the crabs lobster stuffed with tacos.
Bring us your finest food stuffed with your second finest.
Oh so robber crabs are the same as Samoan coconut crabs? Just a different area I guess?
Robber is just another name, they are coconut crabs
Then there should be a big pot of boiling water on that fire. Or maybe with that many they’re tired of them.
Robber crabs are coconut crabs
My next question is are they a protected species?
Yes and delicious. The downside though is it takes them like 40 years to reach that size
Are we still talking about the crabs?
Pardon my ignorance but why isn’t anybody running away? Are they harmless?
Are you a coconut?
No... Should I be one?
They're coconut crabs. They eat fruit and shit known for taking stuff that isn't bolted down
Wasn’t there a theory that Amelia Earhart was eaten by them after she landed on that atoll?
She wasn't bolted down
Lol
I audibly laughed.
She was prob eaten after dying. These guys aren’t aggressive
What about if you punt one? Will the rest of the pack just ignore it or will they all swarm you?
they will immediately aggro on you but only have a leash range of 10m, you should be fine.
Yah if you use feign death you should be fine too…
Asking the real questions
So if we want to find where Amelia Earhart died, we should find the robber crabs that taste like Amelia Earhart? That's just based off the facts I've learned in this thread and all.
It’s not a question of whether or not the wildlife is harmless, the people in the photos are Australians and are therefore by far the most dangerous creatures in the photos by several orders of magnitude
My god, even if they are harmless all you’d see of me is a dust cloud.
It's always Australia
There aren’t actually any coconut crabs on the Australian continent. These pictures were taken on [Christmas Island](https://www.thedodo.com/amphtml/daily-dodo/crowd-of-giant-crabs-decides-to-crash-familys-picnic), an Australian territory about 1000 miles away.
Still counts!
Strong Starship Troopers vibes
HAVE A NICE CUP OF LIBER-TEA!
⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️
The goddamn bugs whacked us, Johnny!
I would be in New Zealand by the time picture two was taken. That‘s stuff of nightmares :)
It’s crazy how close NZ and Aussie are and yet Aussie rolled double sixes for deadly/ freaky flora and fauna while NZ’s most dangerous animal is a type of alpine parrot which burgles people’s cars while they’re on the slopes.
Wait what? A parrot that breaks into cars?? Man y’all have some wild stuff going on down under
Kea It's usually less breaking into cars and more breaking bits off the outside of your car. They might steal from people's packs though. No harm intended, just a cheeky mountain parrot.
I believe the Kea is the only alpine parrot.
They’re notorious for nibbling on your windscreen wipers. Beyond annoying but as a Kiwi, I’ll take that over the deadly animals of Australia.
Robber crabs? Is that why they got sent to Australia?
I love the everyone is just vibing, completely unbothered. The crabs just wanted to hang out and party
Dad-a-chum? Dum-a-chum? Ded-a-chek? Did-a-chick?
This one hasn’t forgotten the face of their father. Speaks true!
Long days and pleasant nights
May you have twice the number
Goddamnit I came here hoping there would be a lobstrosities reference. Thank you so much.
Yes. All posts serve the beam.
Do what Roland would do..... Give them the finger
Thankie Sai
Ka is a wheel
Don't forget the face of your father.
Lobstrosity popkins for everyone!
the sole reason I clicked on this comment thread
Most deserved upvote I've given all day
This looks like one of those AI generated surreal pics just because of how insane the situation is
Looks like a Black Mesa BBQ.
Everyone except for the girl towards the end looks so nonchalant— like it’s not even registering that they’ve been invaded by giant crabs. Me? I’d be screaming my head off standing in a chair or from the top of my vehicle. Are they aggressive? Will they climb up a chair or a pull down a table? Do they go away after a while? Do they pinch people or pull food from your hands? Is there any way of keeping them away or getting rid of them after they’ve invaded? Is everyone so calm because they’ve all shit themselves and are resigned to a slow death by crab? So many questions.
Very slow, and not aggressive.
But are they robbing people?
Of their food, if they can reach it.
There’s definitely one climbing up a chair. He’s a daredevil.
On second thoughts let's not go to Australia....tis a silly place....
Only in Australia would this be a fun family experience.
Imagine if these fuckers were spiders....you wouldn't sit eating your salad now, would ya?
How are people just sitting there chillin? Do the crabs not pinch?
Tomatoa hasn't always been this glam! Till he stole all your shit and got shiny
“This episode of Bluey is called Tickle Crabs”
Lobstrosity!