The shell of a coconut is one of the hardest substances in the plant kingdom. Almost anyone who has ever tried to open one will testify to that fact. But inside that tough shell is rich, tempting food and the “meat” of the coconut is desired by man and beast.
However, very few beasts have either the ingenuity or the tools to be able to harvest the coconut meat. One which is able to enjoy coconut meals is the Robber Crab – also called, very appropriately, the Coconut Crab – of the Southwestern Pacific and Indian Ocean shore-lands. The way in which the Robber Crab secures its dinner displays several marvels of adaptation, as we shall see.
There are tales around South Pacific islands of Robber Crabs climbing tall coconut trees to knock the delicious nuts loose, but his seems to be an exaggeration. These big crabs actually can climb trees, but no one has actually seen one ascend high enough to reach the coconuts. Instead, they make their meals upon fallen nuts.
And this is the way a Robber Crab goes about piercing the coconut shell: He first selects the end of the nut with the three “eyes” (which are not eyes, of course, but plugs in the casing). These plugs are quite hard, but not so hard as the rest of the shell. The crab then patiently tears away the outer protection fibers, exposing the brittle shell. Then the crab selects one of the “eyes” and begins steadily tapping it with his front pincers. These pincers are unusually large and heavy, so the crab is able to apply considerable force with its hammer-blows.
For some little while there seems to be no effect, but the crab is not dismayed. It knows that sooner or later the coconut fortress must crumble. And eventually that is what happens, as the repeated blows weaken the plug and finally break through.
Then the Robber Crab brings another specialized tool into play. Its hind pair of legs are not legs at all, but small pincers. The crab inserts one of these pincers into the hole it has opened and begins deftly extracting the precious white “meat.” Dinner has been a long time preparing, but now is served!
Altogether, it is a remarkable performance. Utilizing at least three specialized adaptations which perfectly fit the crab to its coconut diet: First, of course, is the instinct to eat coconuts. This includes not only recognition that inside the unappetizing husk is rich fare, but also the persistence needed to finally win through to the prize. Also, included is the awareness of the “eyes” as the weakest point to attack.
Secondly, the heavy pincers able to deliver hammer-blows, together with the necessary musculature to wield them, are vital adaptations. But the crowning adaptation is the substitution of an additional set of pincers for the back legs. Our crab carries both hammer and knife and fork!
So the Robber Crab is most excellently suited to its sphere. And we are entitled to ask how this came about. Did the crab design itself, or was some other agency responsible? Let us consider the circumstances: The crab could not develop an appetite for coconuts until it was able to achieve its goal. But it could never achieve its goal of feasting upon coconut meat until it could first open the shell and then extract the meat. But it could do neither of these things before its tools were perfected. Its hammer, for example, had to be not only heavy enough to be effective, but also hard enough to batter the shell without itself cracking. Even after the coconut was broken open, the crab’s efforts would still be in vain without the special pincers for cutting out bites of the meat. The frontal pincers are too bulky and cumbersome for this purpose.
So none of these arrangements could help the crab without the others. Neither could they have been effective in a supposed crude or incomplete “dawning” stage of development. The Robber Crab needs all of its powers fully developed in order to conquer its stubborn meal!
There is only one being capable of matching the diner to its dinner so aptly, and that being is God. It is Almighty God, the great Creator and provider who has done this work, and left it as a witness to Himself.
Let us hear the early prophet Job as he tells us that God does “marvelous things without number” (Job 5:9). “But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you…,” he advises (Job 12:7), and we have just seen that this is true.
Job further tells us that the evidences of God’s handiwork in nature “are but the outskirts of his ways” (Job 26:14), and this also is true. God wrought wonders in nature, but His crowning achievement is man – for God made man in His own image (Genesis 1:27), implanting a spark of His own divine nature in our flesh of clay.
When we sense a yearning in our hearts to know God, it is but a desire to claim our rightful heritage, for we were made to have fellowship with God. But long ago humans became twisted and deformed, so that as Jesus said, we must be “born anew” if we would see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3-5).
Let us rejoice that God has shown us a bit of His creative power, and let us develop a holy yearning to know Him better.
(All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)