Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean is an external Australian Territory just 366.93km south of the Indonesian Archipelago, but 2,000 km (1,243.96 miles) from Australia.
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| Christmas Island Inhabitant |
.... but as its administered by Australia, its also a safe tourist attraction and so has golf courses. However as well as the usual hazards on the courses, such as bunkers, they also have to contend with crabs. Now the Island is actually famous for its red crabs, but the ones the golfers watch out for are the fearsome Coconut Crabs. These boys can grow up to weigh 4kg (9lb) and distance from the tip of one leg to the tip of another can be as wide as 1m (3 ft 3 in).
They get their name from the fact that their front claws, which can grip with a tremendous force. They often use them to drag around objects weighing more than 60 pounds (27 kg), and of course to crack open coconuts to eat but they will eat animals such as dead rats, sea birds etc as well. There is even an unsupported theory that Amelia Earhart crashed on the island, and that her remains were eaten by Coconut crabs ..... So these crabs are not to be messed with.
So when in January 2022 a local golfer found that one of these large crabs had climbed onto his wheeled golf bag and grabbed a couple of golf clubs, he was understandably cautious when trying to get the crab off his golf bag and to let go of all the clubs.
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| Golfer versus Crab |
Attempts to release all the clubs from the crusty crustaceans grip failed when the crab retained one, and although it was undoubtedly unhappy at the attention of the golfer, it still refused to let go of its last prize. When the golfer tried to free it by grabbing the shaft and tugging it from side to side, the golf club simply snapped at the point where the shaft of the golf club, met with the crabs fearsome pincers, "like a chainsaw," and then the golfer could do nothing, but let the crab make off with its trophy.
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