Recently, the Animal Interpretation team went on a field trip through Liberty State Park to observe the wide variety of plants and animals that call the park home. One of the highlights of the walk was observing two horseshoe crabs coming ashore to mate.

During the late spring and early summer months, horseshoe crabs come ashore to mate and lay their eggs. Normally they do this at night during high tide. Being able to observe this behavior in the middle of the afternoon was a rare and exciting treat for the team.

Yes, we found these in Liberty State Park!

During mating, the male horseshoe crab will latch onto the back of the larger female using special hooks on his front legs. The female horseshoe crab will carry him ashore and dig a small depression in the sand where she’ll deposit her eggs. The male will then fertilize the eggs before both crabs return to the water. Horseshoe crab eggs are an important food source for many birds, fish, and reptiles. If they can avoid predators, the eggs will hatch after only two weeks and the young horseshoe crabs will crawl into in the water.

Of course, if you can’t make it to the beach to see horseshoe crabs in action, you can always visit Liberty Science Center’s horseshoe crab in Our Hudson Home, 4th Floor.

Blog post by Nicole Conklin, Animal Interpretation Associate at Liberty Science Center. This is Nicole’s first blog. Great job, Nicole!