Style meets function.
Japanese artist Aki Inomata is doing something spectacular with hermit crabs — she is creating artificial shells using 3D printing. The shells are beautiful, with many of the designs involving depictions of city skylines and architecture.
“The crabs can now move to different cities from all over the world and exchange homes,” Inomata told Reuters. Her project is called “Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs?”
You may not know this, but hermit crabs are not crabs at all — they fall in the order of Anomura — a sister group to crabs (Brachyura). There are more than 1,000 species of hermit crab, but they all share the common trait of not having a shell of their own. Instead, they rely on empty gastropod (snail or slug) shells for protection. Since hermit crabs need to upgrade shells as they grow, their vacated shells are often quickly habituated by smaller crabs.
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Unfortunately, shell availability is an issue within the hermit crab population. Hermit crabs usually use leftover snail shells for protection; however, if these shells are not available, they compensate with random pieces of wood, plastic and rocks. Although there have been prior attempts to create artificial homes for hermit crabs, Inomata claims that her motivations are purely artistic. She does not claim that 3D printing will address the shell shortage issue.
The 3D shells are based on the gastropod shells which perfectly fit the hermit crabs’ asymmetrical abdomens. Computerized tomography (CT) scans were used to obtain detailed models of the internal structure of the shells, but on the outside, the shells contain stunning themes, such as the New York skyline and a row of windmills in Holland.
Amazingly, when the hermit crabs were given a choice between the artificial and real shells, sometimes the hermit crabs picked the artificial shell.
Take a look at some of the designs:
New York City, United States
photo credit: Captured image from video by AKI INOMATA
Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou, Morocco
photo credit: Captured image from video by AKI INOMATA
Zaanse Schans, Holland
photo credit: Captured image from video by AKI INOMATA
This is not the first time Inomata has used animals in her artistic projects. A previous project included making clothing for her dog out of her own hair and a coat for herself made from her dog’s hair.
You can watch the process of making the 3D structures, as well as a hermit crab choosing one of the artificial shells, in the video below.
