Any time a vestige of civilization is reclaimed by the desert, the Trapinch are not far behind. Even in far-flung places like Unova's Relic Castle, these pokemon find their way there to dig large, conical pits of sand to trap their prey: the many pokemon who inevitably seek to use these ruins as a source of shelter. Although humans can not be digested by Trapinch, this fact is seldom appreciated; corpses of treasure hunters are occasionally found covered in sand after a death from asphyxiation in a Trapinch pit. Usually, humans are heavy enough to fall through the sand pit to the next layer of ruins, and a competent trainer can make their way out with the right pokemon, but this fear has kept many away.
Archaeologists are generally grateful to the Trapinch for protecting the past, for the thieves and pokemon kept away will inevitably damage the artifacts in every ruin. Yet these pokemon can cause damage of their own, both to the structural foundation of old buildings and to old items which fall into the sand. Nor are they kinder to those who dig up treasures for knowledge than to those who do so for riches; those who wish to excavate in the desert must come prepared to fight Trapinch and carry pokemon who can protect them from sand pits, either by digging through these traps or by pulling them out before they drown.
It has often been speculated, but never proven, that Trapinch do not always wait for places to be abandoned before they dig, only for them to be swallowed by sand. Stories of lost civilizations in the desert guarded by Trapinch capture countless imaginations even today, for there is a great deal of desert in the world which man has yet to explore.