Monster Coconut Crabs: Did Giant Land Crabs Kill Missing American Pilot Amelia Earhart?

Coconut crabs are terrestrial crustaceans that belong to the superfamily Paguroidea and order Decapoda. These giant land hermit crabs are considered to be one of Earth's largest crabs and feed on almost everything, ranging from coconuts to small mammals and even birds.

The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is also known as the palm thief or the robber crab.

Now, the said land animals have been linked with a decades-old mysterious disappearance and death of an American pilot, named Amelia Earhart, who went missing in 1937 while aboard her plane with her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Official investigations into the incident suggest that the duo disappeared in the Central Pacific Ocean while attempting to circumnavigate the globe.

What Happened to Amelia Earhart?

After being officially declared dead by the United States government more than 85 years ago, Earhart and Noonan's eerie fate was met with a combination of speculations, theories, and mystery over the past several decades.

Still, the US concluded that the American pilot and navigator crashed into the Pacific Ocean after running out of fuel.

Earhart was on a twin-engine Lockheed Electra plane when she went missing on July 2 in 1937, considered to be the longest run of what was supposed to be the world's first circumnavigation by a woman in an aeroplane.

En route to Howland Island, the woman pilot started her departure in Oakland, California, on May 21 of the same year.

Also Read: Heavyweight Crustacean: Coconut Crabs Can Pinch Like Lions, Lift More Than 66 Pounds

Coconut Crab Theory

What makes the story of Earhart ominous is that there has been no evidence of her remains since her untimely disappearance and death.

In recent years, a growing hypothesis called the "coconut crab theory" indicates that the reason why there is no human remains of Earhart was because the giant land crabs in Nikumaroro Island, Kiribati, consumed them.

The theory goes that either one or both of the aviators may have survived a plane crash on a remote atoll in the central Pacific, where they also died after a brief period.

The theory adds that the invasive crab species consumed at least the remains of Earhart.

Regardless of the points taken by the theory, the death of Earhart largely remains controversial, as conflicting reports regarding the incident exist. For instance, the coconut crab theory suggests that Earhart did not die by the initial plane crash or drowning, as caused by the former.

Plane Crash Theory

The plane crash narrative surrounding Earhart's death suggests that she drowned in the Pacific Ocean after her plane crashed. So-called "crash-and-sink theorists" theorize that the American aviator ran out of fuel while trying to search for the tiny Howard Island in the middle of the Pacific.

Unlike the belief of being eaten by giant coconut crabs, the plane crash theory is the most plausible among the several theories out there.

According to the National Air and Space Museum, a longtime Earhart disappearance theorist and pilot, named Elgin Long, provides the most credible explanation that the plane of Earhart and Noonan submerged to the bottom of the ocean after its fuel was depleted.