A tale of survival – how six-legged giant survives for 80 years

Libero.id - Forewarning: this is not for the faint of heart, or those of us who don’t like critters with exoskeletons. This is a story of survival, even amongst the smallest of our planets inhabitants.

As the story goes, there is an extremely thin spindle of rock names Ball’s Pyramid that sits alone in the South Pacific at 1,844 feet high. A deserted and inhospitable island, it surprised two climbers several years ago as they stumbled upon a small, spindly bush with some unexpected inhabitants.

Photo: John White

A satellite view of Ball's Pyramid

But before those climbers found their surprise, a little lesson in history. Nearby Ball’s Pyramid lies Lord Howe Island, which was famous for its “tree lobsters”. These stick insects that masquerade as pieces of wood are approximately the size of a human hand. The flightless insect were populous on the island until 1918 where a British ship ran aground the island, which allowed for some black rats to escape the ship. Two years later the rats were everywhere on the island and the tree lobsters were gone. By 1960 there had not been a single sighting of the Dryococelus australis and it was presumed dead.

Jump forward to 2001 when two scientists David Priddel and Nicholas Carlile decided to take a closer look at a rumor that there had been sightings of the lobster insect on Bell’s Pyramid. They noticed a single melaleuca bush peeping out of the unstable rock and underneath they found what appeared to be the fresh droppings of a large insect. Armed with flashlights, the scientists came back at night to see if they could find the nocturnal creature in action. Sure enough they found 24 of the enormous creatures lurking under the bush. Carlile said “, "It felt like stepping back into the Jurassic age, when insects ruled the world."

Photo: Patrick Honan

Photo: Rod Morris/www.rodmorris.co.nz

A search two years later concluded that those were the only ones left on Bell’s Pyramid. No one is sure how they got there or how they managed to survive.

The Australian government petitioned to bring four of the remaining 24 insects back to Australia to be studied. After two years of negotiations, two pairs were brought back to Australia. Unfortunately one pair died immediately, which left only Adam and Eve in the capable hands Patrick Honan, a specialist in invertebrate breeding. All was going well with Eve laying eggs until she got sick but Patrick managed to cure her with a mixture of calcium and nectar.

In 2008 and the zoo had 11,376 incubating eggs and 700 adults in the population.

But now a possibly more difficult task than resurrecting the animal that was once believed to be extinct - a PR revival to change the opinions of giant insects for the locals of Lord Howe islanders. An intensive and expensive rat annihilation program may be in the works for the small island but while that may be happily welcomed the islanders may be less keen to welcome the giant insects back.

Photo: Matthew Bulbert/The Australian Museum 

Maybe their image can be softened by the fact that they are one of the only invertebrates that mate for life and even cuddle while they sleep, with the male protectively putting three legs over the female beside him.

While a video of a birthing may not be quite the cuddly PR that the insect needs, it’s a good start to the insect that beat the odds.



(Reported by: Ivana Lucic)