The welcome mat has been rolled out for scores of red crabs as the creatures begin their annual coastal dash on Christmas Island.
Each year, the first substantial rain of the wet season triggers tens of millions of adult red crabs to leave their forest homes in the interior of the island and march towards the coast to mate and spawn.
Christmas Island is 1500km from the Australian mainland and lies 350km south of the Indonesian island of Java.
Christmas Island National Park staff have spent months preparing for the mass migration, setting up kilometres of temporary roadside barriers to channel the migrating crabs to the safety of underpasses and overpasses.
They also divert traffic away from the crabs as they scurry to the coast.
Park manager Derek Ball said the red crab was the island’s keystone species and the entire community pitches in to facilitate the “fascinating phenomenon”.
“Over many years we’ve also targeted the red crab’s biggest threat, the invasive yellow crazy ant,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“By reducing their numbers, the red crab population numbers are higher than we’ve seen in decades which is an outstanding result not only for the red crabs, but for the entire island eco-system.”
(stuff.co.nz)
