Amy Luetich and her family had to contend with giant robber crabs invading their campsite.
Pictures that look like they are out of a horror movie show a family surrounded by giant crabs during a picnic gone wrong. Amy Luetich and her family were camping at a picturesque island off the coast of Australia along with some friends when they were surrounded by enormous crabs, reports 9 News. The family were about to enjoy their evening barbecue at Christmas Island when dozens of robber crabs arrived at their campsite.
Pics that were shared by Christmas Island Tourism on Facebook show the crabs swarming around their picnic spot in Grant Well, which is located in a jungle area on the island.
While the sight of the giant crabs is terrifying, the good news is that these robber crabs are quite harmless - though they are known to steal stuff from campsites. According to the island's tourism department, robber crabs, also known as coconut crabs, are a protected species found year-round on the island. "We've never actually heard of anyone being nipped by a robber crab, they are very placid creatures," the department wrote.
Perhaps that is why the family looked pretty unfazed by their presence. Winter McKendrick, the daughter of one of the other families on the trip, was photographed smiling happily as the crabs surrounded her chair.
"Robber crabs behaving badly! A couple of local #christmasisland families had a few extra mouths to feed at their BBQ over the weekend," Christmas Island Tourism wrote while sharing the pics.
The pics have been widely circulated on Facebook, collecting hundreds of comments and reactions.
"We have camped in that area a few times and we have never seen so many robber grabs," Ms Luetich told Daily Mail Australia.
She said that there were about 20 crabs when they arrived, but more joined in as they began cooking. "But as soon as we started cooking, they swarmed around us. My son counted 52 of them," Ms Luetich said. "His job was to pick them up and move them away from where we were eating. He was loving it."
Christmas Island has the largest and densest population of coconut crabs in the world. These crabs can grow up to a metre long and are the world's biggest land crustaceans.
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