A conservation group in Pingtung County is calling on the public to send them seashells to save homeless hermit crabs, which are facing a life-threatening situation because of people’s habit of collecting seashells that the crabs use for protection.
Houwan Preservation Association director Yang Mei-yun (楊美雲) recently initiated a “send shells to me” project on the Internet, calling on the public to send the association leftover shells from seafood restaurants.
Yang said the association would clean up the shells and distribute them on the seashore at Houwan (後灣) in Checheng Township (車城) to provide homes for hermit crabs.
Hermit crabs lack a carapace, so they scavenge empty shells and repeatedly change shells as they grow, to protect their vulnerable bodies, the association said.
However, the decline in the number of abandoned shells is threatening the existence of hermit crabs at Houwan, a recent study showed.
About 95 percent of the crabs in Houwan live in the discarded shells of giant African land snails, but these are unsuitable for the crabs because the shells are light and fragile.
The crabs also often face the risk of being stepped on, Yang said.
Many have been seen using unexpected items in place of shells, such as cans and even plastic bottle caps, she said.
Yang added that since hermit crabs are also popular pets for children, many people illegally trap them and sell them at night markets in central and northern Taiwan.
A study by Kaohsiung Medical University professor Chiu Yuh-wen (邱郁文) found that among the 400 butcher land hermit crabs, 1,500 viola hermit crabs and 60 indos land hermit crabs they recorded between May and July this year, only 1 percent of them were living in suitable shells.
July and August are the peak breeding period for hermit crabs on the Hengchun Peninsula, when many of them emerge from seaside bushes at night to lay their eggs on the foreshore, Chiu said.
Crabs living in plastic bottle caps are vulnerable to attack by ants, he said, adding that whelks, horned turban shells and egg cowry shells are considered suitable homes for the crabs.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS