The Coconut crab is the largest terrestrial arthropod, known for its ability to crack coconuts with its strong pincers in order to eat the contents. It is sometimes called the "Robber Crab" because some steal shiny items such as pots and silverware from houses and tents. Another name is the "terrestrial hermit crab," due to the use of shells by young crabs. Its range includes the Indian and western Pacific ocean. They differ slightly in color among different islands, ranging from light violet to deep purple, to brown. Their diet consists primarily of all kinds of fruits, including coconuts and figs. However, the crab will eat nearly anything organic, including leaves, rotten fruit, tortoise eggs, dead animals, and shells of other animals. They cannot swim and will drown in water.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1258: Hulagu Khan and the Mongols sacked Baghdad, ending the rule of the Abbasid caliphate. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad)

1763: Britain and Spain partitioned New France by the Treaty of Paris, and decimated the French colonial empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_France)

1840: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha married Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom at the Chapel Royal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert_of_Saxe-Coburg-Gotha)

1962: "Rudolf Abel", a Soviet spy arrested by the FBI, was exchanged for Gary Powers, the pilot of an American spy plane. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilyam_Genrikovich_Fisher)

1996: Deep Blue the chess-playing computer defeated International Grandmaster and World Chess Championship Garry Kasparov in a game of chess for the first time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Be nice to people on your way up, because you're going to meet them all on your way down." -- Jimmy Durante (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Durante)