Most people know scorpions can inflict a painful sting, but not much else about the amazing arthropods. Below, you'll find fascinating facts about scorpions.
Scorpions are predatory animals of the class Arachnida, making them cousins to spiders, mites, and ticks.
Scorpions have eight legs, a pair of pincers (pedipalps) and a narrow segmented tail that often curves over their back, on the end of which is a venomous stinger.
The scorpion uses their pincers to quickly grab prey and then whip their poisonous tail stinger over to kill or paralyze the prey. The tail is also used as a useful defense against predators.
Scorpion species range in size from 0.09 cm to 20 cm.
Scorpions can be found on all continents except for Antarctica.
There about 1750 different scorpion species with 13 extant families known to scientists.
All scorpions are venomous but only about 25 species are known to have venom capable of killing a human being.
Scorpions are one of the oldest animals on Earth. Their evolutionary history goes back to the Silurian era 430 million years ago. They evolved from giant scorpion-like creatures that emerged from the sea and have remained morphologically unchanged until now.
Scorpions, despite being plentiful and dangerous, actually don’t live very long at all. The average scorpion has a lifespan of just 8 years while it is in the wild. They may live longer while in the care of a human.
Scorpions have, most recently, been used within the pharmaceutical industry. In Pakistan, farmers within the Thatta District are paid about $100 for a 40-gram scorpion. 60-gram scorpions are said to obtain around $50,000 USD. It is illegal to trade them, however.
Scorpions can slow down their metabolism when food is rare. They can survive without food for up to one year.
Scorpions tend to live in areas with temperatures ranging from 68 to 99 degrees F (20 to 37 C) but they can handle much more extreme temperatures. Researchers have even frozen scorpions overnight, only to put them in the sun the next day and watch them thaw out and walk away.
Despite having 6 to 12 eyes, scorpions have poor vision. Instead, they locate their prey through scent and ground vibrations.
Under UV light such as a black light scorpions are known to glow due to the presence of fluorescent chemicals in their exoskeleton.
The scorpion is nocturnal, often hiding during the day under rocks and in holes in the ground before emerging at night to feed.
Scorpions moult, they shed their exoskeleton up to 7 times as they grow to full size. They become vulnerable to predators each time until their new protective exoskeleton hardens.