The insects that are eating Christmas Island

The insects that are eating Christmas Island
Yellow crazy ants are wiping out the territory's red crabs, writes Greg Roberts
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21912636-30417,00.html

June 16, 2007

LAUREN Barrow's face tightens as she holds a dead crab by its claw. "What's going on out there is horrible," says the Parks Australia ants project officer. "This is scary stuff."
What's going on here on Christmas Island is an environmental disaster. Scientists warn that the ecological damage being inflicted on Australia's remote Indian Ocean territory by the 5mm-long yellow crazy ant is spiralling out of control.

Barrow is holding one of Christmas Island's famous red crabs. The joints between its carapace and legs are stiff. Its eyes have a strange, milky glaze. The crab has been sprayed with formic acid by crazy ants. "The crabs are blinded and paralysed by the acid. They become dehydrated and starve to death," Barrow explains.