MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tens of millions of red crabs are making their way to the ocean as part of their annual migration on Christmas Island, where a much smaller human population uses leaf blowers and garden rakes to help them on their way.

Christmas Island National Park acting manager Alexia Jankowski said Thursday there were up to 200 million of the endemic crabs, also known as Gecarcoidea natalis, on the tiny Australian island territory in the Indian Ocean. Up to 100 million were expected to make their way from their forest burrows to the shoreline where they breed.

The start of the Southern Hemisphere summer rains last weekend triggered the annual odyssey.

The crabs seek shade in the middle of the day, Jankowski said, but early mornings and late afternoons bring about a vast,

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