Image uploaded from a quicklink (Image by Unknown Owner) Details DMCA | Social animals usually congregate for protection or mating or to capture bigger prey, but a University of California, Berkeley, biologist has found that the terrestrial hermit crab has a more self-serving social agenda: to kick another crab out of its shell and move into a larger home.
This article interests me because when I was about 10, I found what looked like a large snail shell, that I was going to take home. I picked it up and was horrified and scared out of my mind when crab claws came out, eagerly seeking the source of disturbance, namely my hand. I threw it as far as I could and ran home. I see now a striking resemblance to "gated communities," that few of us get to enter (not that I'd want to). |