The Animal Highlight

S3E3: Manifold Crabs

Claudia Hirtenfelder and Amanda Bunten-Walberg Season 3 Episode 3

Amanda Bunten-Walberg tells us about the incredible diversity of crabs as well as some of their social and physiological characteristics. She focuses on the Green Crab, a species whose adaptability has often also meant they are labelled as invasive. This content was originally aired in Season 5 of The Animal Turn Podcast.


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Credits:

  • Claudia Hirtenfelder, producer and host 
  • Amanda Bunten-Walberg, co-host
  • Christiaan Mentz, sound editor and producer 
  • Rebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)
  • Gordon Clarke, bed music composer
  • Learn more about the team here. 

 

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Sponsor:

Thank you to the sponsors of the fifth season of The Animal Turn podcast, “Animals and Biosecurity,” where this animal highlight was originally aired 31 October 2022. They are: 

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A.P.P.L.E
Animals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.

Biosecurities Research Collective
The Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.

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00:00 - Introduction 

 

01:20 – Green Crabs

  • The Green Crab is listed as one of the worst most invasive species in the world.
  • Nature Conservancy Canada refers to thee green crab as “an aggressively invasive alien species”
  • Such condemning language. 

 

02:20 - Crabs

  • Incredible creatures with exoskeletons and segmented bodies.
  • They move in a memorable sideways scuttle. 
  • Sandy beach ghost crabs c run sideways at four meters per second. 
  • Crabs grow through molting and absorb their exoskeletons calcium until it cracks. 
  • Crabs can feel pain, biologists are gathering evidence that crabs can and do feel pain. 
  • There are more than 7000 crab species and they are found in an array of environments. Some live in the depths of ocean floors, others on thermal vents, or in small pools of water.
  • Astounding environmental difference. 
  • Japanese Spider Crabs can live for a century and are the largest crab. 
  • Decorative crabs use materials in their environment, maintaining gardens on their shells. 
  • Christmas Island red crabs shut down roadways when they move to breed and spawn. It is a spectacle. 
  • Green Crabs have a high tolerance for dealing with change and it is these characterise that help them be successful in their non-native environments. 
  • They catch rides in the ballast of ships and are found around the world.

 

11:38 - Credits

  • Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law, and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring the podcast and the Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research Collective for sponsoring the season of The Animal Turn where this content was extracted from. 
  • A big thank you to Amanda Bunten-Walberg for co-hosting this season of The Animal Highlight
  • This episode was produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and edited by Christiaan Mentz. 
  • The logo and episode artwork were created by Rebecca Shen. 
  • Show notes compiled by Claudia Hirtenfelder
  • Please rate and review wherever you listen. 


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