Shells are essential for hermit crabs since if not eaten first, they would roast in the Sun without them. However, these little animals always outgrow their shells, which forces them to constantly search for new ones. When a hermit crab sees a new shell, it will size it up to make sure it fits properly. If the shell is too large, the prospecting hermit crab will sit back and wait for a larger crab to upgrade and leave a castoff shell. While the first crab waits, the rest of the crabs congregate around the shell and do the same. A little ordered pandemonium happens when a crab large enough to suit the vacant shell arrives. A vacancy chain is a name for this chain reaction, and it’s an amazing technique for organisms to thrive despite sharing limited resources. This is a very impressive phenomenon that scientists discover, showing that there are other forms of life that collaborate and exchange resources in order to survive.
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