A crab was spotted holding a cigarette leaving onlookers baffled.
The crustacean had picked up the discarded butt.
It was then seen scuttling along with it in one of it’s pincers.
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The crab belongs to the Geothelphusa makatao species, a small to medium-sized freshwater crab found in Taiwan.
It happpend on Shoushan – also known as Monkey Mountain – in Shoushan National Nature Park.
In recent years, large numbers of these crabs have died, partly due to bringing discarded cigarette butts back to their burrows.
Cigarettes contain toxic chemicals that pollute the soil and water in their habitat, as reported by What’s The Jam.
Guo Gaoyi of the Shoushan Volunteer Patrol Team told local media: “They’re close to local extinction.
“Fifteen years ago, you couldn’t walk along here without stepping aside for them.”
Geothelphusa makatao are omnivorous, feeding on fruits and earthworms.
But Gaoyi warned: “When food here becomes scarce, they eat rubbish.”
Although Shoushan National Nature Park has a total smoking ban, visitors still flout the rule. Around 5,000 people hike the mountain every day.
Volunteers are now urging authorities to install explanatory signs and step up enforcement against cigarette butt littering to safeguard the remaining crabs.
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