Hawaiian Crabs Vanished When Humans Arrived

in crab •  7 years ago  (edited)

A fossil from an extinct Hawaiian land crab image
Land crabs as large as an adult's hand once migrated between the Pacific Ocean and the forests high on the Hawaiian islands. Their disappearance may be the first documented extinction of a crab during humans' presence on the planet, according to researchers.

Land crabs spend their adult lives in forests, and make risky trips to the oceans to release their larvae, which grow into crabs that return to land. The most famous land crabs occupy Christmas Island, where they make an arduous journey to the ocean every year.

Of the islands of the tropical Pacific, only Hawaii's seem to lack these crabs. Now, fossils have revealed that the crabs did indeed live there, but like many other species they seem to have fallen victim to changes wrought by humans.

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