At Christmas Island – no, not in the North Pole, but located in the middle of the Indian Ocean you’ll find a large horde of red little critters milling around. Not elves, these are red little crabs, that in tens of millions make their annual migration from the forest to the coast.

 

The crabs spend the rest of the year in the island's jungles, but at the beginning of the wet season between October and December, these crabs migrate to breed and spawn. Precisely at the turn of the high tide during the last lunar quarter, eggs are released by the female red crabs into the sea.

The red crab is one of 14 different species of land crabs found on the island with the population estimated to be 40 - 50 million.

 

 

The time-lapse footage above shows masses of red crabs on Christmas Island on their annual migration from their inland burrows to the water's edge.

 

This great migration takes almost an entire week, with the males usually arriving at the shore before the females. Its impossible not to be amazed by the majestic sight of millions of Christmas Island red crabs carpeting the ground in their dash to the Indian Ocean. And come to think of it, a bit creepy as well. Who would want to get trapped in that rush?

via GIPHY