Thailand. What are all these intricate patterns on the beach, I wonder? Where did they come from. Aliens? Reminds me of the mysterious corn maze circles.
But on closer observation, there are tiny little sand colored crabs scurrying around. Every time I get near they descend into their burrows. It turns out, the sand balls shown in the photo, are made by sand bubbler crabs native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The crabs take sand into their mouths, sift thru it looking for organic materials washed in by the tide, and then spit the sand out into a ball. They can make 360 balls an hour (I am not sure who sat and counted) forming the most amazing patterns radiating from their burrow holes.
At high tide, the balls are washed away and the crab starts all over at low tide. The longer the tide is out, the more detailed the pattern. Quite the little artists in nature.