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Huge, carnivorous coconut crabs pose an unusual challenge to the team searching for Amelia Earhart’s missing plane on the remote Pacific island of Nikumaroro.
Purdue University confirmed Monday that the crew would sleep aboard their ship rather than on the island, citing the enormous shellfish as one of the reasons for the decision.
The 17-person expedition team arrived off the coast of Nikumaroro Monday evening after a five-day voyage across the Pacific, and disembarked the next morning to begin investigating clues that could help solve Earhart’s disappearance.
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“The crew will sleep overnight aboard the Marin Mainiku for a number of reasons, including the presence of coconut crabs, whose size and nocturnal activity make staying on the island difficult,” the university said.
The team, which is 16 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), has previously encountered these enormous crustaceans while working on the island.
The enormous coconut crabs pose an unusual challenge to those searching for Amelia Earhart’s missing plane, pictured right, on the remote Pacific island of Nikumaroro. (iStock; Bettmann via Getty Images)
In a statement Tuesday, Purdue University officials said researchers encountered at least four coconut crabs while clearing an overgrown trail leading to the island’s lagoon.
The path, nicknamed “Gallagher Highway,” had become heavily overgrown since the last expedition, forcing searchers and crew members to use machetes and hand chainsaws to clear the road.
The work lasted about two hours. Despite encounters with crabs, the animals “posed no threat to the operation,” according to the university.
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The coconut crab is considered the largest land arthropod, according to a 2011 report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The crab digs shallow burrows for mating and molting and frequently maintains multiple burrows within its territory, the USGS report states.
Purdue University expedition member Sirisha Bandla, seen at right, holds a massive coconut crab on Nikumaroro Island, where researchers are searching for clues to Earhart’s disappearance in the late 1930s. (Purdue University; Bettmann via Getty Images)
“The species is omnivorous and scavenges carcasses, climbs trees to access food or escape, and can live (for) more than 40 years,” the USGS report adds.
Coconut crabs are also equipped with two powerful claws capable of breaking apart the tough exterior of a coconut, according to the Natural History Museum in London.
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Crustacean claws have serrated edges that function like teeth, allowing them to break apart hard shells.
“The pressure from a coconut crab’s claws can be much stronger than that of a human,” the museum said.
“There is a problem with coconut crabs and hermit crabs, but otherwise it’s a magical place.”
Researchers testing 29 wild coconut crabs found that their claws could generate more than 1,765 newtons of force.
“For comparison, humans have a maximum bite force of between 1,100 and 1,300 newtons,” the museum adds.
A photo released by Purdue University shows expedition member Sirisha Bandla smiling as she holds a huge coconut crab, its long legs and claws extending outward.
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Expedition member Renato LaRocca, who had previously visited Nikumaroro, acknowledged the challenges posed by the island’s wildlife in an October 9 academic statement.
“There is a problem with coconut crabs and hermit crabs, but otherwise it’s a magical place,” he said.
Searchers trying to find Amelia Earhart’s missing plane have reached the island of Nikumaroro after a five-day journey across the Pacific Ocean, Purdue University announced. (Purdue University; Bettmann via Getty Images)
Despite the challenges, Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute and leader of the expedition, said the team remains in “great spirits.”
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“We continue to be well supported by our very capable Kiribati crew, and we look forward to the work ahead of us,” he added.
Purdue University told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the crabs did not pose any additional problems for the crew.
The expedition investigates a mysterious anomaly detected in satellite imagery that some researchers believe may be Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra.
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The research is anchored by the Nikumaroro hypothesis, which suggests that Earhart’s plane crashed near the isolated Pacific island.
Nikumaroro Island is located in the South Pacific. (Google Maps)
Earhart was just 39 years old when she disappeared on July 2, 1937, while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world.
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The famous aviator and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared during one of the final legs of their journey after taking off from Lae, New Guinea, en route to Howland Island.
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