Given that there were flying creatures (with beaks capable of lifting it from a neighbours pond) arguing over it I’m not sure this is a job for Sherlock Holmes
“Well they were crazy times back then, ex and prospective presidents were convicted of paying hush money to a porn star and, little did we know where that would end. But the first step on the road to the downfall of civilisation actually happened with some balloons carrying poop.”
Tell that to future grandpa living in a cave to escape the hellscape of the surface, but I don’t think his main consideration is ensuring his tales of The Beforetimes are properly fact-checked.
“Apparently, coconut crabs taste very similar to lobster or regular crab meat. The fat in the abdomen and the eggs inside the female are considered the most delicious parts, and they can be prepared by steaming or boiling them, preferably in coconut milk.
Although the crab is not known to be poisonous, it is believed they can become toxic after eating certain plants for a long period of time. That said, they are generally not sold or eaten on a normal basis. In fact, eating a coconut crab on Christmas Island is a $5,500 fine.”
Coconut crabs are heavy. Heaviest crab on earth. It also climbs trees, the most common is the coconut tree for which it is named. Those claws open coconuts like soft butter, which is specifically why they are called coconut crabs. So, with those details, here’s how a coconut crab hurt aviation history:
A colony of crabs climbs a coconut tree. The weight of so many crabs that high in a tree causes the tree to lean, allowing more crabs to climb. Crab critical mass is reached and the tree, bent over like an arch, starts to lose crabs. Being crabs, they drag each other down as a crabalanche clears the palm of all but a lone coconut crab. The tree snaps back upright and hurls the lonely crab into the sky.
Coconut crabs are unable to swim, so it had little choice but to struggle and grab at anything - like a low flying aircraft. Scared, lost, and cold, the crab frantically grabs at anything it can reach, but her aircraft is cloth covered wood spars. Frantic, clumsy claws punch holes in cloth and splinter wood. Amelia has no control as the plane tumbles to earth, splattering across the deserted islands below. She never stood a chance against the crabs.
We got the crabs in the end though. When the South Pacific was chosen wasn’t the remoteness of the islands that gave us the perfect target to test nukes during the 50s; it was revenge.
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