{"id":234602,"date":"2025-10-23T08:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/234602\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T08:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:39:11","slug":"wild-sight-as-army-invades-aussie-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/234602\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild sight as army invades Aussie island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wild footage has captured the moment millions of crabs invade Christmas Island.<\/p>\n

The red, little creatures are shown moving at a leisurely pace on a road and scaling a wall.<\/p>\n

The incredible sight is captured every year on the island about 1500km from Australia\u2019s mainland as millions of red crabs begin migration season.<\/p>\n

\"Millions<\/p>\n

Millions of red crabs have descended on Christmas Island. Picture: ChristmasIslandnp<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The crab migration takes place every year on the island. Picture: ChristmasIslandnp<\/p>\n

A major spawning event is expected on November 15 and 16, with a second spawning anticipated in December before baby crabs head back to the shore just three to four weeks later, according to Christmas Island National Park\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cRed crabs all over the island leave their homes at the same time and start marching towards the ocean to mate and spawn. Male crabs lead the migration and are joined by females along the way,\u201d the website states.<\/p>\n

The exact timing of each stage of the migration depends on weather, tides and moon phases.<\/p>\n

Locals may be able to see as many as 100 crabs per square metre of beach or rock, with some sections of road closed for parts of the day during the migration\u2019s peak.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The crabs scale a wall. Picture: ChristmasIslandnp<\/p>\n

\"Roads<\/p>\n

Roads are often shut to allow the crabs safe passage. Picture: ChristmasIslandnp<\/p>\n

Christmas Island National Park acting manager Alexia Jankowski told the ABC that locals really valued the crabs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to put rakes in our cars and leaf blowers \u2026 to ensure the crabs have a safe passage,\u201d Ms Jankowski told the ABC.<\/p>\n

Female crabs can produce up to 100,000 eggs each, releasing them into the ocean before returning to their homes in the forest.<\/p>\n

The eggs take about a month to form into tiny crabs and emerge from the water; however, most of them will experience a short life, as fish, manta rays and whale sharks feast on them before they get the chance to make it out of the water.<\/p>\n

Little to no baby crabs emerge from the ocean most years.<\/p>\n

Flying Fish Cove and Ethel Beach are some of the best spots to sit back and watch the exciting event unfold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wild footage has captured the moment millions of crabs invade Christmas Island. The red, little creatures are shown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,59686,115345,139136,128,338],"class_list":["post-234602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-christmas-island","tag-christmas-island-national-park","tag-red-crabs","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}