Are you ready to travel around the world to meet some migrating crabs? (Google Street View)
Christmas Island isn't cold or especially holiday-themed ... unless you're thinking of a holiday in the sun.
The remote Australian territory is found in the Indian Ocean, just south of the Indonesian island Java. Christmas Island (which was named in 1643 on, you guessed it, December 25) is tiny—the entire island is only about the size of the average small city. But that hasn't stopped it from becoming the home to a lot of crabs!
The Christmas Island red crab is found only here and on the nearby Cocos Keeling Islands. And while December isn't exactly the kind of big deal that you'd expect from a place called Christmas Island, it does feature an annual event that just might rival the well-known holiday season. We're talking an army of red crabs migrating to the shore to lay their eggs. Just how many crabs?
Over 40 million of them!
Street View on the beach
While we're sure that a few of you brave, nature-loving souls would dig being ankle-deep in crustaceans, we're equally certain that many would find it to be a bit unsettling. To which we say: Thank you, Google Street View!
In the name of humanity's love of crabs (if not exactly in person), Google gave an employee of Parks Australia named Alasdiar Griggs an assignment: Go to Christmas Island with a "Street View trekker" (basically a 360° camera backpack) and bring those crabs to us. Which is exactly what Griggs did.
In December 2017, he wandered the paths and beaches of the island, camera in tow. And he brought back images of crabs. Dozens of, wait, hundreds, we mean ... thousands-upon-thousands of migrating red crabs!
We've selected a pair of Street Views to get you started from...
Muriel Beach...
...and Ethel Beach...
But these are just a couple of the many available images. If you want to search on your own, go to Google Earth, type in Christmas Island (or the Cocos Keeling Islands), and have a walkabout for yourself!
