Cannibalistic Hermit Crabs See Dead, Start Salivating
- 10 years ago
Its been known for a while that hermit crabs are cannibalistic creatures that will eat their friends and neighbors. Recently, a scientist set out to determine how far they’ll go.
It's been known for a while that hermit crabs are cannibalistic creatures that will eat their friends and neighbors.
Recently, a scientist set out to determine how far they’ll go to grab a bite of the deceased, and what, if anything, will deter the feasting.
It turns out, there isn’t much that will stop them. Mostly, the presence of dead crabs just makes them appear excited.
The first potential deterrent Mark Tran, who works as a zoologist at Michigan State University, looked for was fear.
His logic was that if a hermit crab sees a fellow species or near-species member has been killed, instinct will sound off an alert that a predator is near and danger lurks.
To find out, he threw the mashed up remains of a crab into in a tank of live specimens.
Not only did they not retreat to safety, the crabs in the study immediately began foraging.
Subsequent experiments with dead but intact hermit crabs of two different species showed that stranger or relative, almost all were considered an equally viable snack. Only one crab abstained but Tran thinks it was merely startled. A fear of impending doom was never exhibited.
He did observe that when devouring a closer relative, the crabs made a quicker task of it.
It's been known for a while that hermit crabs are cannibalistic creatures that will eat their friends and neighbors.
Recently, a scientist set out to determine how far they’ll go to grab a bite of the deceased, and what, if anything, will deter the feasting.
It turns out, there isn’t much that will stop them. Mostly, the presence of dead crabs just makes them appear excited.
The first potential deterrent Mark Tran, who works as a zoologist at Michigan State University, looked for was fear.
His logic was that if a hermit crab sees a fellow species or near-species member has been killed, instinct will sound off an alert that a predator is near and danger lurks.
To find out, he threw the mashed up remains of a crab into in a tank of live specimens.
Not only did they not retreat to safety, the crabs in the study immediately began foraging.
Subsequent experiments with dead but intact hermit crabs of two different species showed that stranger or relative, almost all were considered an equally viable snack. Only one crab abstained but Tran thinks it was merely startled. A fear of impending doom was never exhibited.
He did observe that when devouring a closer relative, the crabs made a quicker task of it.