“For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.” (Psalm 50:10-11)
Six hundred miles off the coast of South America and positioned in the southern part of the Galapagos archipelago is Rabida Island. About a mile in diameter, Rabida is a world of red sand beaches, flamingos, sea lions, and white tipped sharks. Strategically positioned among the islands that Charles Darwin made famous because of his visit in 1838, Rabida is a celebrated stop for the small handfuls of atheists and evolutionists enthusiasts who make the pilgrimage to this Jerusalem of scientism.
We came to Rabida for different reasons. The Mysterious Islands expedition made one of our early stops to this strange volcanic island. Our goal was to dive with sharks, examine the giant cactus plants with soft prickers found only on these islands, to interact with seals, and shoot an important sequence of our film between myself and Dr. John Morris on the red sand beaches.
The first inhabitants we met were the most surprising. Their strange art works turned the beaches into a vast canvas—a creepy, impressionistic canvas, but an interesting one, nonetheless.
We had entered the world of the Ghost Crab.
The most distinctive feature of this ultra-fast little crustacean are his eyes which are at the end of a long retractable stalk. These eyes can be raised vertically or lowered into grooves of their carapace. Remarkably, the unique construction of their eyes allows them to see 360 degrees. Their eyesight is so sharp that they can see flying insects, which enables them to catch them in mid air. They can not see directly up, however, which is why they need to burrow to protect them from predators.
The best time to see Ghost Crabs is at night time in the moonlight when they emerge to forage. But I had the privilege of seeing close to five hundred of them during my visit to Jarvis Island where the smooth beaches are full of a beautiful reddish volcanic sand. Dr. John and I were walking down the beach shooting a segment on the life of Darwin at the time. I could see hundreds of these bizarre Ghost Crabs with my naked eye and also through my binoculars. They seemed to emerge from their lairs in the scores and, like an army of creepy knife wielding soldiers, would move back and forth across the beach, only to disappear seconds later into underground tunnels. There were so many that from a distance it looked like the beach itself was moving. And not only do they move—but they move very fast, and can make sharp directional changes—at about ten miles per hour.
Even in our fallen world you see the unending, magnificent mercy of God in Creation. I believe the ecosystem of the Galapagos is an example of God’s mercy. He has allowed the island to develop an equilibrium where every creature plays a particular role designed to bring greater harmony and balance to the islands.
The Ghost Crabs are a great example of the mercy of God through ecosystem equilibrium: for example, Ghost Crabs are part of God’s program to keep the beaches of the Galapagos very clean. Dead animals and debris do not remain long on the Galapagos. God has designed some creature to dispose of the waste. Ghost Crabs do exactly this. But they are more then the trash collectors, they are predators. Essentially, they are bullies with shells. If they can subdue it, they will eat it—including hatching sea turtles.
Imagine seeing a group of crabs jump on a newborn baby turtle and consuming it within five minutes—in one sense it is a terrible sight, but in another sense, it is a reminder that man’s sin has brought death to the world. And yet, God uses death in the animal kingdom as part of his provision and protection of the world during the present age.
The most amazing thing about the Ghost Crab is the mysterious patterns it leaves on the beaches through “sand balls.” The sand balls are blobs of sand which the Ghost Crab has seized, compressed, and sorted for micro-organisms. By squeezing all the life out of the sand and then eating it all, the Ghost Crab leaves a perfectly formed ball. When you walk down the beach you may see thousands of these balls in amazing patterns. And every pattern is unique.
A few other helpful facts about the incredible way that God designed these creatures: The Ghost Crab tunnels down four feet into the ground at a 45° angle, creating 1-2 inch wide holes, which speckle the beach. At dusk, these crabs will sprint to the ocean in order to obtain oxygen from the water which washes over their gills, and in June, females will release their eggs into the ocean. Ghost Crabs hibernate during the winter, holding their breath for six months by storing oxygen in sacs near the gills. They can also have a natural filter system which gathers oxygen from the air, enough to survive for one year without entering into water.