Parks Australia help protect red crabs migrating on Christmas Island

Parks Australia staff, working in collaboration with the community and local stakeholders are playing a key role in protecting millions of red crabs on Christmas Island as they migrate from the forest to the coast to mate and spawn.

The red crab migration underway on Christmas Island in Australia's Indian Ocean Territories, is one of the world's most fascinating  - capturing the attention of wildlife lovers across the world.

Each year, the first substantial rain of the wet season triggers the migration which is an amazing natural process determined by moon, tides, and weather.

Christmas Island is located 1500 km from the Australian mainland, where Christmas Island National Park staff have spent months preparing for the crabs' big journey.

These efforts include diverting traffic away from migrating crabs and erecting kilometres of temporary roadside barriers to channel millions of migrating crabs to the safety of underpasses and overpasses.

Christmas Island National Park has led key programs to protect the red crab population, including tackling yellow crazy ants through biological control of their main food source, and through island-wide baiting programs targeting ant supercolonies.

The effective suppression of yellow crazy ant supercolonies has allowed huge red crab migrations to take place with little impact from the ants.

Thanks to efforts like these, the red crab population has more than doubled in the past five years from 50 million to more than 100 million.

Image: Christmas Island's red crabs during their annual migration. Credit: Parks Australia