Croc-a-doodle doo! ‘Tis the season for eggs, even if this one isn’t eggsactly what you were expecting to see. 🥚An adult Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) might be a powerful predator, but it starts its life as a tiny hatchling—emerging from an egg that weighs only 4 oz (0.1 kg). Mother crocs lay clutches of nearly 60 eggs in underground nests, guarding them for up to 14 weeks. Fun fact: Nest temperature has a direct effect on the sex of baby crocs. Females hatch from cooler eggs, below 88° F (31° C), while males hatch from warmer eggs! Photo: Veronik80000, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Feeling crabby? Feast your eyes on today’s Exhibit of the Day, the Museum’s Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi). This species is the biggest living crab and the largest arthropod in the world, measuring up to 13 ft (4 m) from the tip of one outstretched leg to another! Its diet includes dead fish, invertebrates, and algae, but it occasionally snatches live prey with its strong claws. This scavenger can be found on the seafloor off Japan’s Pacific coast, inhabiting depths of more than 984 ft (300 m). You can spot a model of one in the Museum’s Hall of Ocean Life! Photo: The American Museum Journal, Volume IV 1904
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