Giant crabs may have eaten Amelia Earhart. A new search is on.
A fresh expedition is hunting for Earhart's remains on an island where coconut-cracking crabs could have scattered the evidence.
A research team has arrived on Nikumaroro to search for Amelia Earhart's remains, sleeping on their ship to avoid giant coconut crabs that can lift heavy objects and crack coconuts. The expedition's findings could reshape one of aviation's greatest mysteries and test how forensic teams handle extreme taphonomic environments.
A new search for Amelia Earhart has landed on a remote Pacific island where the prime suspects in her disappearance are not human, but giant coconut crabs. Researchers on Nikumaroro, part of the Republic of Kiribati, will sleep on their ship rather than camp ashore, because the island's coconut crabs can lift heavy weights, split open coconuts, and may have played a role in Earhart's demise. The expedition is the latest attempt to solve the 1937 mystery of Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan, who vanished during their attempt to fly around the world. The crabs, which can grow to over a meter across and weigh several kilograms, are the largest land arthropods on Earth, and their scavenging behavior has long been a gruesome footnote in the Earhart case. The team's decision to avoid sleeping on the island is a practical acknowledgment that these crustaceans are not just a curiosity, but a potential taphonomic force that could have moved, scattered, or consumed human remains decades ago.
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