The land hermit crab does not have a hard shell of its own. It uses old empty shells to protect its soft body. When danger threatens, it hides in the shell, and closes the entrance with its hard claw. The female lays her hundreds of eggs inside the borrowed shell. The young are in great danger until they can find a shell of their own.
People are also a danger to the land hermit crab.
The land hermit crab needs a damp environment to live in uses old shells to live in for protection and to stop drying out cleans up the shore line. There is not much competition from other kinds of she-oak in this coastal environment. Port Douglas, Queensland. Like the land hermit crab, the she-oak has escaped competition by growing in a habitat not used by others in its family. The trees form dense stands, sometimes suckering from the roots, and stabilise beach dunes and sands.