Wednesday, May 29, 2013

A Little Bit More About Horseshoe Crabs

I did a little online research on horseshoe crabs during my lunch hour - I've learned a fair amount about them since I began paddling Jamaica Bay, I like knowing about the creatures who call the bay home, but something like the police catching poachers in the act makes me want to brush up on things. I found 2 items that I thought I'd share quickly - 

1. A Daily News article talking about the US Parks Police ramping up efforts to catch horseshoe crab poachers in Jamaica Bay. This is a few years old but the information is still relevant to understanding Monday night's events. Link:

2. PBS did a documentary about the relationship between humans, horseshoe crabs, and red knots. I won't have time to watch it until tomorrow, probably, but from the synopsis, this looks like something that anyone who wants to learn more about these strange old animals is likely to enjoy.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/crash-a-tale-of-two-species/introduction/592/

3 comments:

Mary said...

The situation with the Red Knots (a migratory shore bird) is critical, because the depletion of the Horseshoe Crab (or actually its eggs) has contributed to the endangerment of the bird. These birds are very picky eaters (unlike gulls for example who will eat your baloney sandwich). If they cannot find enough crab eggs to munch on, they will not survive.

Harry said...

Thanks for posting this Bonnie,I watched the full episode.Interesting indeed,I was unaware of any of this.Have a good day!

bonnie said...

Thanks, Mary and Harry. I finally had time to watch the documentary on Sunday. It was fascinating.