Common Name: Scorpions
Scientific Name: SCORPIONES

Scorpions are found around Asia, Europe and the southern hemisphere, except for New Zealand and Antarctica. The scorpions head, named the prosoma holds together eyes, mouth parts, claws, and astonishingly four pairs of legs. It has an exoskeleton, meaning its skeleton is on the outside of its body and the delicates on the inside. Currently, there are around 2,200 species around the world. It has been found living at heights of over 12,000 feet in South America and some parts of Asia, as well as the Swiss Alps.  In snowy places, they hibernate during winter and the colder months of the year. However in drought areas they may rest as well.

Its appearance is crab like, slender, razor-sharp pincers, with a long curled tail with a dangerous stinger on the end. Most scorpions reach a maximum length of 7.5cm with some found at 12.5cm. When shined on with UV light, scorpions have a fluorescent glow because of chemicals in the exoskeleton. Imagine having a skeleton on your outside, nobody would be able to have surgery! Even though, unlike spiders, scorpions sting and not bite, their sting is still pretty damaging and you wouldn’t want to endure the pain of being stung. Plus you may need some anti-venom if you happen to come across a certain deadly species, which is doubtful in New Zealand.

The most dangerous scorpion is the ‘Deathstalker’ which is in North Africa and the Middle East. Scorpions are nocturnal, and hide in many different places. Some hide under rocks and logs, while others dig and hide in burrows. What would it be like to sleep in burrows, imagine being able to slither right down into the ground, it wouldn’t be very comfortable. In their burrows, they wait there until prey comes along, then all of a sudden, the scorpion ambushes the prey, and it becomes paralysed by the powerful scorpion stinger. The scorpions can sense vibrations in the ground which means they can feel the movement of prey to strike the victim when it approaches. Wouldn’t that be cool to sense movement in the ground?

They eat all sorts of insects, spiders, centipedes and even eat other scorpions. Hmm, I don’t think I will be copying a scorpion anytime soon… Larger scorpions eat lizards, snakes, and mice if they can eat them. They do have the same eating habits as spiders, because they spit acids onto the prey before consuming the liquid left inside the body. But, scorpions are also prey, being eaten by tarantulas, lizards, birds and bats.