Re: What animals eat coconuts?

On oceanic Indo-Pacific islands, the coconut is eaten primarily by two 
animals, humans and the coconut crab.  Pacific islanders recognise 
different stages of growth, asssigning to them different names.  When the 
nut is young, it is without the white endosperm ("meat"), but filled 
with "water" and is used for drinking.  When older the endosperm is soft 
and rubbery, a stage preferred by some.  When still older, the husk is 
still green, but the shell is now brown.  At this stage the water tastes 
like sparkling water, though i dont know if this is from dissolved gases.  
Finally when mature and the husk brown, the endosperm is usually ground 
off on a serrated blade and added to other dishes or rendered for oil.  
Many exceptions to the above brief summary abound.

The coconut crab is a large terrestrial species Birgus latro restricted to 
islands on the Pacific tectonic plate.  This distribution is probably 
because of the lack of most vertebrate predators on these oceanic 
islands.  The crabs are a kind of large hermit crab, but unlike other 
hermits dont use a borrowed seashell.  They deposit their eggs in the 
sea.  The adults live for many years and grow quite large.  They shred the 
coconut husk with their strong chelicipeds ("claws") and access the meat 
by prying open the shell through the "eye", a small hole.  Despite their 
name, coconut crabs spend most of their time eating foods other than 
coconuts, which even for them are difficult to open.  For more on the 
coconut crab see 
http://www.mov.vic.gov.au/crust/hermbiol.html

http://www.herper.com/Cococrab.html