Melissa Scott Sinclair Wrote A Deep Dive On Hermit Crabs

For Slate, reported on the “most misunderstood pets.” Sinclair told Study Hall that she landed this assignment thanks to a pitch call in an opps newsletter. 

She said, “I got the chance to write about these surprisingly social and charismatic crustaceans and the people who love them.” 

She shared, “With the right care, hermit crabs can live more than 30 years. More frequently, they die of slow suffocation in a child’s bedroom or are tossed into a beach shop dumpster at summer’s end. ‘Why are we doing so wrong by this one animal?’ said one hermit crab rescuer. ‘Why does nobody care about THIS one?’” 

Sinclair’s writing has appeared in Audobon and Atlas Obscura.