TRANSCRIPT:
Hello this is Dr. Tom Mullikin with SCDNR for Into the Wild.
On certain spring nights, especially around the higher tides, horseshoe crabs crawl into quiet bays and inlets along the South Carolina coast. They look almost prehistoric - and their relatives have been moving through coastal waters for hundreds of millions of years.
Females bury clusters of eggs in the sand near the waterline. Some of those eggs remain close enough to the surface to become an important food source for migrating shorebirds that are stopping to rest and refuel on very long journeys.
One tide, one stretch of beach, and one small egg can connect animals traveling across entire continents. So if you are near an inlet in spring, slow down and look carefully. What seems like a quiet shoreline may be one of the busiest rest stops in the natural world.