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Artículo This huge coconut crab savagely hunted, killed and devoured a bird Articles

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This huge coconut crab savagely hunted, killed and devoured a bird

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The 'pretty gruesome' phenomenon was witnessed by a researcher

Anna Freeman

10 Noviembre 2017 13:07

A coconut crab has been spotted hunting, killing, and devouring a seabird, the first time such behaviour has been recorded.

Researcher Mark Laidre of Dartmouth College witnessed the phenomenon while he was studying the giant crabs in the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.

Laidre explained how the crab climbed a tree and attacked the seabird in its nest situated on a branch close to the ground.

The crab broke the bird’s wing, causing it to fall out of its nest and then took to the bird with its claws, breaking its other wing and leaving it incapacitated.

Once the bird was unable to move, other coconut crabs arrived and pulled the bird apart in scenes Laidre described as ‘pretty gruesome’.

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