When on a camping trip, you’re always looking out for pesky intruders of the wild kind. But these Aussie families got more than they bargained for while enjoying a day out on Christmas Island.
What was supposed to be a day spent outdoors while enjoying a braai, turned out quite differently.
But it appears the group took things with a pinch of salt, and soon Christmas Island Tourism caught onto their predicament and posted some snaps of their gatecrashers on Facebook.
“Robber crabs behaving badly! 😝 a couple of local #christmasisland families had a few extra mouths to feed at their BBQ over the weekend,” posted the tourism group.
Robber crabs behaving badly! 😝 a couple of local #christmasisland families had a few extra mouths to feed at their BBQ...
Posted by Christmas Island Tourism on Sunday, September 20, 2020
The post has since gone viral with over 2K shares and 1.7K likes.
Amy Luetich, who lived on the isle for a few years, said she had never seen quite so many robber crabs before that night in the Grants Well jungle.
“We have camped in that area a few times and we have never seen so many robber crabs,” Luetich told Daily Mail Australia. “As soon as we started cooking, they swarmed around us. My son counted 52 of them.”
Robber crabs, also known as coconut crabs, is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, according to Wikipedia.
It can be found on islands across the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands and Pitcairn Islands.
Adult coconut crabs feed primarily on fruits, nuts, seeds, and the pith of fallen trees, but they will eat carrion and other organic matter opportunistically.
Mmmm... it could explain their eagerness to try braai meat?