A sharing by Ling Sing Lin
Interesting nuggets of information
- The name Christmas Island came from Captain William Mynon of the British East India Company, who sighted it on Christmas Day in 1643.
- Christmas Island has a rich source of phosphate, a valuable fertilizer.
- Singapore, as a British colony at the time, had administrative responsibility for Christmas Island. In 1958, sovereignty was transferred to Australia for a fee of £2.8 million as compensation for lost phosphate revenue. This was during Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock’s time. There is a museum on the island providing this historical information. The population of Chinese, Malay and Indian residents is a reflection of its historical past, as the indentured migrant labourers were from Singapore.
- When I visited Christmas Island in Dec 2019, it’s only flight access was from Jakarta or Perth. Today, there are direct flights from Singapore.
- Abbot’s booby, an endangered seabird, only nests on Christmas Island.
- Christmas Island used to house asylum seekers (boat refugees) from the late 1980s.
Red Crab Migration
Christmas Island is best known for its red crab migration. Every year, from October to December, the wet season, millions of red crabs migrate from forests inland to the sea. This is a sight to behold, as you can see a sea of red crabs marching across the terrain, crossing roads and anything in their way, to the sea. Sir David Attenborough in 2017 described it as “one of the most spectacular migrations he’s ever seen.” These land crabs cannot swim, but have to mate and spawn in the water. Each female crab can produce up to 100,000 eggs. The eggs hatch and larvae emerge in the sea water. However, the vast majority of larvae are eaten by fish, manta rays and whale sharks. Only those which survive emerge from the sea as baby crabs and track back to the mountain. Some years, a huge number of baby crabs survive, resulting in a huge population of red crabs migrating to the sea the next year.
To protect the red crabs, some sections of the roads are closed to vehicular traffic. Crab bridges are also built to allow crabs to cross safely.
In 2019 when I visited, the number of crabs were a far cry from what I had anticipated. A 2015 survey estimated 40 million adults, as millions of crabs had been killed by yellow crazy ants. Our guide also mentioned that hot dry weather resulted in fewer crabs surviving the track to the sea. However, a 2021 survey revealed a rebound of 190 million crabs.
Are red crabs edible?
According to our guide, as they are land crabs and feed on leaf litter, they don’t taste good, and are not sold commercially.
Do I recommend a visit?
Now that I am apprised of the rebounding red crab population, a definite YES!
lingsinglin
Dr Ling Sing Lin is a medical doctor by training. She worked in MOH HQ for many years, in policy making and administrative positions, until her retirement.
