Golfers must often share the links with wild inhabitants. Bears, gators, snakes and leopards have all made appearances on golf courses across the globe, but the award for the most entertaining on-course encounter goes to Paul Buhner and co who found themselves in a tug-of-war with a behemoth of a crab on Australia's Christmas Island.

The footage – captured and narrated by Buhner back in 2020 and recently reshared online – shows a golfer attempting to prise a coconut crab from the top of his bag. Unwilling to relinquish its perch, the crab clutches on to the clubs and refuses to let go, resulting in an admittedly chortle-worthy exchange between frustrated golfer and obstinate crustacean.

Coconut crabs, or robber crabs as they are sometimes called on Christmas Island because of their tendency to steal everything they can wrap their pincers around – are the planet's largest land-dwelling arthropods, a group of invertebrates that includes spiders, centipedes and insects. The monumental crabs are found across the Indo-Pacific where they hang out in rock crevices or spend their time clambering up trees in search of – you guessed it – coconuts, which they crack open using their powerful pincers.

The giant crustaceans are one of around a dozen species of land crab that can be found scuttling around Christmas Island, an area that's famous for its annual migration of red crabs which blanket the island at the start of the rainy season when they begin their journey to the coast to spawn.

After a significant tussle with the club-snapping crab, the golfers eventually gave up trying to retrieve the last of their gear. "You know what, just let him have it, mate. He’s won the victory – he’s beaten us" quipped Buhner.

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Header image: Anne Sheppard