Giant Coconut Crabs Complicate Amelia Earhart Search on Remote Pacific Island

An expedition searching for Amelia Earhart’s missing airplane has encountered an unusual obstacle on the remote Pacific island of Nikumaroro: giant coconut crabs.

The 17-person team is investigating an anomaly in satellite imagery that researchers believe could be connected to Earhart’s Lockheed Electra. But while the search takes place on land, the crew is spending its nights aboard the expedition vessel, the Marin Mainiku.

Purdue University said the crabs’ size and nighttime activity were among several reasons researchers would not camp on the island.

The team arrived offshore Monday evening after a five-day Pacific voyage and went ashore the following morning. Researchers encountered at least four coconut crabs while clearing an overgrown route to the island’s lagoon.

Known as the “Gallagher Highway,” the trail required about two hours of work with machetes and hand chainsaws. Despite their imposing appearance, the crabs did not threaten the operation, university officials said.

Coconut crabs are the world’s largest land-dwelling arthropods. They are omnivorous scavengers that eat a variety of foods, including carcasses, and can climb trees. They may live more than 40 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Their formidable claws can crack coconut shells. Researchers studying 29 wild coconut crabs recorded gripping forces exceeding 1,765 newtons, according to London’s Natural History Museum. The claws have serrated edges that help the animals tear into tough food.

Nevertheless, the encounters have not halted the expedition. Purdue said Thursday that the crabs had caused no additional difficulties.

Expedition leader Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, said the team remained in excellent spirits and praised its Kiribati crew.

The search is examining the Nikumaroro hypothesis, which proposes that Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan reached the island or its vicinity after failing to find Howland Island in 1937.

The satellite anomaly remains an unconfirmed lead. Researchers must determine whether it represents aircraft wreckage or something unrelated to the disappearance.

Earhart, 39, and Noonan vanished July 2, 1937, after departing Lae, New Guinea, for Howland Island during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Their disappearance remains one of aviation’s most enduring mysteries.