Save the horseshoe crabs! Just Flip ‘Em!

By Queuebot in Animals & Pets on Sep 14, 2009 at 10:58 pm

Horseshoe crabs are cool for many reasons (trust me). So here’s a campaign to tell people what to do if you find one on its back. Just Flip ‘Em! There’s even a theme song.

Our Just flip ‘em! program is designed to bring attention to the hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) who die each year from stranding (stuck upside down) during their yearly spawning ritual and to encourage individuals, through a simple act of compassion, to take the time to assist and appreciate these remarkable creatures, who will not survive public indifference.

The idea is simple: when you see a horseshoe crab that is stranded upside down on the beach, just flip them over. It’s important not to flip them by their tail, however. Even though it looks scary, the tail is very delicate and can be easily damaged. The best way to turn them over is by the edge of their shell. No need to be cautious; the horseshoe crab doesn’t bite or sting and it’s claws are very gentle and won’t hurt you.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Melphistopheles.


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  1. Alex
    Sep 14th, 2009 at 10:59 pm

    How did they get overturned in the first place?

  2. Christophe
    Sep 14th, 2009 at 11:39 pm

    You don’t want to know, it’s a family blog here… ;)

    Waves I guess?

  3. Summer
    Sep 14th, 2009 at 11:45 pm

    They get overturned by being washed onto the shore by waves, tides etc. I applaud neatorama for posting such a blog! Yeah, these creatures look scary but they are COMPLETELY harmless…so flip ‘em!

  4. abdulhamid
    Sep 14th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    Are not you interfering with natural selection?

  5. Justin
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 12:34 am

    haven’t horseshoe crabs been around basically unchanged for hundreds of millions of years? I imagine if natural selection was going to make them less prone to being flipped by waves, it would have done so already. :)

  6. Johnny Cat
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 12:34 am

    If the horsheshoe crab is being pwned by the tide, and that is its lot in life, does human intervention really matter? Really?
    Undoing extinction = fail.
    99% of all species are extinct.
    The good news is there are new species emerging, mostly in the Rainforests.

    Hmm.

  7. Justin
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 12:48 am

    Unfortunately, the vast majority of the species that are threatened with extinction, are so because of human intervention. So it is our duty to attempt to restore a diverse ecosystem.

    And while many species have and will continue to go extinct, there are plenty of success stories out there where humans have taken a dying species and revitalized it. Just look at the Bald Eagle, and the American Bison.

  8. elizabeth
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 1:49 am

    I love the artwork! Of course, I just showed it to my boyfriend and he said, “How has the horseshoe crab saved us? Huh? Jerk.”

  9. felixthecat
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 5:42 am

    A simple act of kindness is interfering with natural selection? You’ve been watching too much “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

    So if you see someone drowning at the beach, you walk by saying “the beauty of natural selection at work”?

  10. ted
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 6:21 am

    That would be the reality of natural selection, not the beauty of it.

    The only crabs I see here, far away from the ocean, are the ones in the grocery store.

  11. Ratz
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 6:33 am

    I always assumed that it was a myth that $animal lying on its back would die. Are you seriously saying this is true? Seems like a design flaw to me. Evolution kindly make me some horseshoe crabs that don’t suck.

  12. felixthecat
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 6:56 am

    The neighbor’s house was on fire, and their just taking the corpses out now. I could have helped rescue the family, but I figured, what the hey? Natural selection is at work here. Their agonized cries did quite upset my breakfast though, I must admit. I couldn’t hear the news.

    Sometimes the horseshoe crabs can right themselves, many times not. Beachcombers typically pour sand on them, and once some Boyscouts and fishermen were using them for target practice with knives.

  13. Kalel
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am

    Seems to me there are a lot of crabs here in the comment section, aheh heh.

  14. c0ldfish
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 11:44 am

    i love HS crabs with an embarrassingly uncommon passion reserved by most for immediate family members and franchise restaurant cuisine.

    i’ll probably get one inked onto my torso one of these days.

  15. Gauldar
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 11:52 am

    Humans already interfere with the natural habitats of creatures; if we don’t make an effort there will not be enough to evolve in the future.

  16. Bryan C
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    I’ve been flipping horseshoe crabs since I was a kid. Horseshoe crabs sometimes swim upside down. That works great in deeper water, but it’s a bummer if you get swept up on the beach. I feel sorry for the poor primitive things. Besides, they have copper-based blood, like Vulcans, and I think that’s pretty neat.

    OTOH, I try to be realistic about it. A dead crab is something else’s meal, and seagulls and other beach critters have gotta eat too, you know. All part of Nature’s Circle Of Death.

  17. secret asian man
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over. But it can’t. Not with out your help. But you’re not helping.

    I mean you’re not helping! Why is that, Leon?

  18. Miss Cellania
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    No, you won’t save an entire species by flipping a crab. But it will mean the world to that crab.

  19. FishBottleT
    Sep 15th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    Well I think that the horseshoe crabs will be fine without us humans waisting time one them. I mean they have survived many, many , many , many, many,many,many thousands of years with out our help and will hopefully continue to survive. Why do us humans try to save everything..like Christmas. Someone allways has to save christmas.

  20. Yo
    Sep 16th, 2009 at 11:24 am

    The only thing I need to know is how do they taste dipped in clarified butter?

  21. Someone else
    Sep 16th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    “I don’t like or understand these rituals from cultures other than my own, therefore these brown people are savages.”

    Neatorama = racist

  22. ByrdBrain
    Sep 16th, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    Someone else = fail at the internets


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