If there's one thing we have in common with these crabs, it's a keen sense of fashion. About three-quarters of the 900 species of crab in the family Majoidea decorate themselves, making them nature's most fashion-conscious animal. They improvise accessories using whatever is around, grabbing items such as seaweed, corals and sponges, and sticking them to their shells. Hooked hairs, called setae, keep everything in place (Royal Society Biology Letters, doi.org/5bw). But while we adorn ourselves to be noticed, crabs do it for the opposite reason: the decorations provide camouflage so the crab can hide from predators. 'The nice thing about being a decorator is that wherever you go, you can pull off the old decoration, stick on something new and quickly adapt yourself to whatever environment surrounds you," says John J. Stachowicz of the University of California, Davis. "If you're a slow-moving, roving animal, being able to quickly adopt the coloration or background of wherever you are is likely very adaptive."
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