A Christmas Island red crab during its migration

© Ingo Arndt/Minden Picture

The crabs of Christmas Island. Feeling crabby?

It’s estimated that some 40 million of these bright, red crabs live on Christmas Island, a territory of Australia located in the Indian Ocean. Since it’s warm there this time of year, these crabs are migrating to the sea, where they will mate and spawn. The event is quite a spectacle—onlookers will see rivers of crabs, thousands of them climbing over fences and crossing roads on their journey, which attracts tourists to the remote destination. This isle itself was named by a British Sea captain who discovered the destination on Christmas Day of 1643