Hermit Crabs and the Human Hermit

I love to watch the thumbnail sized hermit crabs that scurry along the shoreline at Onna-son carrying their personal choice of seashell homes on their backs. They look like animated pastel sculptures enlivening Nature's sand-and-driftwood still life artwork. Nothing is cuter than these busy little bugs scampering about in their pink and white all-natural mobile homes.

Not so cute are the giant, fist-sized, blue hermit crabs of Iriomote Island. Iriomote is one of the islands in the southwestern fringe of the Okinawa chain, and it is home to many unusual species of plants and animals. For instance, there is the very photogenic Iriomote Wildcat.

The blue hermits are, frankly, a bit grotesque. They become even more unphotogenic when, instead of skulking around in borrowed shells, they have to resort to wearing battered plastic containers that have floated in on the tide from who knows where.

What are human beings thinking when they turn their garbage loose on unsuspecting nature? Do we think we are the only ones making this world our home? You'd think a creature smart enough to invent plastic would be capable of inventing an environmentally-friendly method of disposing of it.