Hermit crabs seek real estate advice, well almost

We all know how difficult, time-consuming and expensive renting homes are; the same holds true for buying a home. Now, think of animals, particularly the one's that carry their homes on their backs - like turtles, tortoises, snails and crabs, you'd think they have it easy. But, you'd be wrong.  Make that very, very wrong.

Enter the hermit crabs.  These crabs are anything but recluse, as their name seems to suggest. What makes them different from other crabs is their soft underbelly - they don't posses a hard shell as seen with other crustaceans.  Typically found in the Western and Far eastern islands, these hermit crabs shed or molt their skin, and are in constant search for new houses or "crabitats". However, thanks to environmental degradation, these crabitats or shells are in the form of bottle caps and other garbage strewn around the beaches that are harmful for these delicate crustaceans. 

That's when a Japanese real-estate listing company called Suumo decided to take charge, and give these crustaceans a spanking new home.  They teamed up the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology led by Professor Hamasaki and his students, as per this report. Together, they came up with an amazing solution to find these hermits crabs an eco-friendly living situation. 

Made of  starch, these "homes" played a significant dual role: a) Protecting the crabs soft underbelly b) Good for the environment. A classic win-win situation for all involved.  But the real test lay in whether their efforts paid off.  Did it? 

Watch the video here:

A fantastic marketing campaign, wouldn't you agree?