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It's a truly spectacular sight that normally starts with the first rainfall of the wet season, sometime between October or December.
这是一个非常壮观的景象，通常始于雨季的第一场降雨，在10月或12月之间的某个时候。
But exceptionally dry weather has meant it's only now the crabs are starting to make the journey, two months later than expected.
但异常干燥的天气，意味着螃蟹们现在才开始迁徙，比预期要晚了两个月。
And something that's being blamed on climate change.
而这要归咎于气候变化。
Crabs are unique to this island off the coast of Western Australia, where more than 100 million of them live.
螃蟹是这个位于西澳大利亚海岸的岛屿所特有的物种，有超过1亿只螃蟹生活在这里。
Much of the island is part of a national park, which means the crabs right to live here is protected by law.
该岛的大部分区域都是国家公园的一部分，这意味着螃蟹在这里生存的权利受到法律的保护。
Every year at this time, the sheer numbers of them making the journey to the beach would normally result in road closures.
每年这个时候，前往海滩的螃蟹数量之多，通常会导致道路封闭。
This year is the first time in recorded history that the crabs have migrated as late as February, and they did so in lower numbers than normal.
今年是有记录以来螃蟹第一次迟至2月份开始迁徙，而且它们的数量比往年要少。
"If the rain hasn't come or it isn't sustained, and they've started migrating,
“如果没有下雨，或者雨没有持续下，螃蟹已经开始迁徙，
the crabs will either hunker down, so they'll just sort of wait it out to see if the rains will return,
那么它们就会暂时躲起来，等等看是否会再次下雨，
or if they haven't gone too far, they will actually return back to the forest."
或者如果它们没有走得太远，就会回到丛林里。
After mating, the females normally stay behind in burrows near the ocean to hatch their eggs, and the males return inland.
交配后，雌螃蟹通常是留在靠近海洋的洞穴里孵卵，而雄螃蟹则返回内陆。
But experts aren't sure yet how much the confusing weather might affect things this year.
但专家们还不确定这种令人困惑的天气会对今年的螃蟹产卵有多大影响。
