How would you like to find this on the side of your trash can!!!!!!! (or anywhere!!!!) --
Our friends in Australia sent us a picture of a Coconut Crab.   This is pretty interesting.....
 
Coconut  Crab (Birgus  latro) is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world. It is  known for its ability to crack coconuts with its strong pincers in  order to eat the contents. It is sometimes called the robber crab because some coconut  crabs are rumored to steal shiny items such as pots and silverware from houses and tents The second  photo gives you a good idea of how large these crabs are - a coconut crab is seeking food from a black trashcan.

COCONUT CRABS
The coconut crab is a large edible land crab related to the hermit crab , and are  found in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans .. They eat coconuts for a living! How would you like to be on an island and come across a crab that is more than 3 feet from head to tail and weighs up to 40 pounds , with a pair of large pincers strong enough to open coconuts! They can climb trees too , but they only eat coconuts that have already fallen to the ground. Coconut crab meat has been considered a local delicacy.

Coconut crabs are known to climb trees up to 6 m (20 ft) high. Their presence is betrayed by the pieces of coconut husks left at the entrance into their hollows, in rotten tree trunks fallen to the ground, as they bring food to their dens to eat safely. They are adapted to terrestrial life, they will drown in the sea, as they breathe through lungs! During June-July, the crabs moult and stay hidden in their dens for up to 30 days.

Still, the sea origin of the animal is obvious during reproduction, as females have to lay eggs in the sea and the larvae live 28 days in the ocean. The young use shells just like any hermit crabs, or coconut husks, if they are not available. Sexual maturity is reached at 4-8 years, extremely late for an arthropod.
 

The meat of this large crab is extremely appreciated, just like lobster or other crabs and it is also considered an aphrodisiac. Still, the meat can contain toxins from the ingested plants.

That's why in many places, like the Solomon Islands, this species is endangered. There are laws limiting the number of egg carrying females and the size at which they can be collected and exported. In fact, human consumption exterminated long ago this giant crab from Borneo, Indonesia or New Guinea.

Farming these crabs would be a solution, but more about the reproductive habits of this crab must be revealed.