蜜芽传媒

We can all picture a crab, but did you know that nature has reinvented those claw clicking, sideways scuttling crustaceans at least five separate times? In recent years the internet has run wild with the idea that crabs are the ultimate life-form, and that even humans might one day end up with pincers too. But is there any truth behind the memes? Hannah and Dara scale the tangled tree of life and tackle taxonomy to figure out if 鈥榗rab鈥� really is evolution鈥檚 favourite shape. Exploring coconut to spanner, ghost to hermit, soldier to spider they learn how to tell the 鈥榯rue鈥� crabs from the impostors.

You can send your everyday mysteries for the team to investigate to: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk

Contributors
Dr Joanna Wolfe 鈥� Evolutionary Biologist, Harvard University and UC Santa Barbara
Professor Matthew Wills - Professor of Evolutionary Paleobiology, University of Bath
Ned Suesat-Williams 鈥� Director of the Crab Museum, Margate

Producer: Emily Bird
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
A 蜜芽传媒 Studios Production