This year sees the release of the anticipated movie “Amelia”, a biography of the American aviation pioneer, and the story of her disappearance over the pacific ocean whilst attempting to fly around the world at the equator, starring Hilary Swank.
It is a shocking coincidence, then, that just before the release of this new movie comes the news from The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), or more specifically, Richard Gillespie, author of “Finding Amelia: the true story of the Earhart disappearance”, that the resting place of Amelia Earhart, after years of searching, may well have been found. According to TIGHAR, several artifacts discovered hint that the island Nikumaroro was the final resting place for Earhart. The island, 300 miles off course, would be very hard to live on, of course, with sweltering heats, poisonous fish, foods and so on. Coincidentally timed news about the death of one of America’s great aviator pioneers or cheap movie advertisement stunt? You decide.
However, this news has sparked interest in an entirely different field, what is known as birgus latro, or the “coconut crab”, as it’s been stated by Richard Gillespie that ““If Amelia died on Nikumaroro, her body was eaten by crabs. That’s pretty much a given,”, therefore implying that it is almost certain that Amelia Earhart was eaten by coconut crabs, whether it was the cause of her death or not.
Coconut crabs, or birgus latro, are likely to have gained attention over this otherwise interesting news due to the fact they are aesthetically shocking in both size and form, looking more like a feature in the film “alien” than any creature we know on earth. Coconut crabs hold an interesting position in society, being awed at over not only the cultures unfamiliar with it (like those introduced to it by the Earhart news story), but those familiar with it too. They are admired for their strength, used as guardians for crops, eaten, even hailed as an aphrodisiac in many cultures and are even sold for pets in Japan. The list goes on but shows how the coconut crab has a special, unique relationship with mankind, and one that is under threat as, despite being largely widespread, especially on small tropical islands like the one Earhart was thought to crash land on, and being carried in currents across large distances, they are becoming extinct and endangered due to loss of habitat and human intervention.
In summary, TIGHAR’s news about Earhart’s death, conveniently timed or not, has raised popular interest in the coconut crab. Whether this was the desired effect of the published work or not is up for debate, but it is certainly interesting.
Article sources:
Alex, http://www.neatorama.com/2009/10/26/earharts-final-resting-place-found/. “Earhart’s final resting place found?”
