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24 Intriguing details on the lives of Scorpions
1. Scorpions are not insects. Scorpions belong to the
Arachnid Family in the Animal Kingdom. They are closely
related to the spiders, harvestmen (Daddy Long Legs and its
family), mites and ticks.
2. The scorpion family is comprised of fifteen hundred
species and only twenty-five of those species are poisonous
to humans.
3. Scorpions have an armored carapace that protects them
from predators and from being easily squished! They need it
because lizards and birds like to eat them.
4. Scorpions have six to twelve eyes; two large ones located
in the center of the carapace and two to five smaller eyes
orbiting the two large ones. Two of the eyes are in the
middle of its back. But despite their multiple eyes they are
extremely nearsighted. They can detect light levels with
their eyes, especially low light, and it is suspected that
their primary use is to help the scorpion navigate at night
and escape the sun in the day.
5. Scorpions are nocturnal. Rarely will you see a scorpion
out hunting during the daylight.
6. Scorpions make their homes in tunnels they have dug out
in the ground or sand, or in depressions under handy rocks.
7. Scorpions fluoresce under UV light. Scorpion hunters use
handheld UV lights at night to find weird green glowing
scorpions. Some suspect that this is a mechanism to help
tell them to get out of the sunlight.
8. Scorpions actually sense their prey using fine hairs
along their body, and on their legs, body and pedipalps they
have slit organs that pick up scent and vibration
(chemoreceptor and mechanoreceptors).
9. Scorpions also have special organs (pectines) on the
underside of their body that detect texture and scents along
the ground.
10. It is within the pectines on the underside of the female
scorpion that the male scorpion deposits his sperm for the
female to fertilize her eggs.
11. Scorpions are carnivores and prefer insects or small
animals for their meals. They chase down a spider or an
insect and grab it with their pedipalps (pincers). Then they
bend their long tails over their heads and sting the prey so
that it is paralyzed or dead, pour digestive juices over it
to soften it, break it up with their pincers, and then they
can eat it. They don't eat the hard exoskeleton.
12. Scorpions are found everywhere in the world except
Antarctica, but most are found in the equatorial belt in
Africa and North and South America.
Just the Cutest Stuffed Scorpions you can Imagine
13. Some scorpions can live a year without food or water!
14. The sting of a few types of scorpions can be deadly to
humans. In Mexico over a thousand people a year are killed
by scorpion stings.
15. Scorpions are cannibalistic toward each other. They like
having their relatives for dinner.
16. Scorpions are territorial and will not welcome other
scorpions in their territories except that during mating
season they will allow another scorpion if the other
scorpion is of the opposite gender.
17. Scorpions are violent toward each other even during
mating and often kill their mates after mating. Since the
females are larger than the males, it is usually the male
that gets eaten.
18. Male scorpions do a complicated courtship dance to
attract female scorpions, showing off his stuff as the right
species and a potential mate and father for the next
generation.
19. Scorpions are not found only in desert-like areas like
most people think. They are also found along ocean beaches.
There are at least ten scorpion species that can be found
along the sea.
20. Scorpio is a star formation or birth sign in the
horoscope.
21. Scorpion mothers carry their eggs inside their bodies
until they hatch, then she gives birth to them live and
carries the babies around on her back for the first few days
or weeks.
22. Scorpions can live two to ten years under the correct
conditions. One scorpion lived to be twenty-five!
23. The largest scorpion on record is 8.3 inches in length
(21 cm).
24. Scorpions are more active in hotter climates and that is
usually where you will find them. During the colder season
some scorpions actually go into a hibernation-like state to
preserve themselves for warmer times.
More about
Scorpions & Invertebrates
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