Almost Useless Learning #1: Crab Hunting

Gotcha!

I've never shaken the desire to catch animals and examine them.
As a kid, we used to climb into the swamps and marshes of upstate New York to catch insects for my friend Bob's terrarium.

I don't climb into swamps anymore, but I still like catching small critters.
Snakes are one of my favorites to catch and hold. They are amazing creatures.

Snake, Pt. Reyes National Seashore, California

Snakes are cool, but Angie will tell you how much I love catching geckos, lizards, and salamanders.
Whenever I see one, something primal in me is triggered.
Angie gets embarrassed when we're in a nice restaurant in Hawaii, Bali or Thailand and I spot a gecko.
"No," she says. "Stay seated."
I do, but barely...

Catch of the Day - Bintan Island, Indonesia

I don't know any secrets for catching snakes or geckos.
I mean, sure, you can use a net, or one of those handled thingys that Jeff Corwin uses to catch snakes.
But I'm not a pro, so I don't have those tools on hand.
I just run, chase, crawl, grab and catch.

In January, we were in India at Fisherman's Cove, south of Chennai.
The beach there is crawling with crabs, day and night.

In the day it's red crabs, at night it's ghost crabs.
I went out one night to get a closer view of the ghost crabs, but they're just too damn fast.
Sprinting, reaching, grabbing - they were always a step and half in front of me.

At one point, I reached for a crab and got a handful of sand. Frustrated, I threw it at the crab.
As the sand covered the crab, he just sat down. I guess he thought he was now underground and safe. Surprised, I just walked over and picked him up.

Hmmm....
I tried it again on a different crab. Same result. Toss a handful of sand on them and they just sit down and let you pick them up (not that they're happy about it - they will try to pinch you!).

It's almost embarrassing how proud I was (and am) of this discovery.
I had to bring Angie out and show her.

I don't know if this method works on other types of crabs.
I haven't had a chance to test the method elsewhere, but it works on Chennai ghost crabs!

I'm sure there are a couple of practical business lessons here,

• the value of perseverance
• being open to accidental successes
• necessity as the mother of invention
• that the point of frustration is often the point of innovation

but I just wanted to tell you how to catch crabs!!