Scorpion

Shelter for Animal | Scorpion | Scorpions are arachnids (Arthropod) from the order Scorpiones and they’ve barely changed since they were first around more than 400 million years ago. These arachnids are pretty easy to identify because they have that pokey tail which isn’t technically a tail at all.

Scorpion animal or insect?

A scorpion exoskeleton is made up of three parts the head the abdomen in the tail-like structure called the meta Zuma the Stinger part of a scorpion is called the telson. Their pincers are actually their pet of help on their head. They usually have at least two eyes that are more useful in determining differences in the light.

They have eight legs plus the pet up helps and they breathe through structures called book lungs which are named so because they look like a book’s pages bound together. It has nothing to do with these arachnids being bookworms though I’m pretty sure they would happily eat bookworm scorpions eat by pulling apart their food using their Calissa rye and slopping digestive juices all over their meal to turn it into a liquid.

The scorpion then sucks up the liquid and leaves behind any hard bits it can take scorpion hours to eat but some species can go a full 12 months without eating again. If the need were to arise though, for the most part, they eat every few weeks. They eat other arthropods including other scorpions and can also consume, small mammals, and reptiles.

Scorpion adaptations

Scorpion are nocturnal but not many species actually go out and hunt their food as many are sit and wait, predators, their bite has no venom but their stinger can their stinger is dual purposed for catching food and to aid in protection. Scorpions are eaten by other arthropods, foxes, frogs, snakes, owls, rodents, and other animals including meerkats.

Meerkats are actually immune to their Venom’s so those foraging scenes and Meerkat Manor kind of seem way less intense. Now scorpions seem to have this big bad reputation because they’re pretty intimidating looking and they’ve also been showcased in a villainous light in different films but really most of them are not as terrifying as they seem.

Scorpions sting

There are more than 1500 species of scorpions and only about 25 of them have venom that could kill a human in parts of the world where their venomous sting is something to worry about there are anti Venom’s available to help those who have been stung. Still, they should be given their space when possible actually been stung by a scorpion more than once and also been stung by a wasp.

Be honest with you given the choice it would be stung by this arachnid again to be fair that’s just a personal opinion and the Scorpions that stung, were likely just southern unstriped scorpions but the pain experienced from a wasp sting was far worse than the scorpion stings.

A typical scorpion sting can cause pain swelling and tingling at the injection site a sting from one of the 25 baddies can cause rapid breathing racing heart and muscle spasms along with you know death and stuff if you don’t go to a hospital.

Scorpion habitat

These Arachnids live on every continent except Antarctica surprise surprise and they inhabit just about every terrestrial environment with the exception of really cold places. They tend to take up residence in burrows they either create or find and they’re relatively solitary though some species have been found in large groups. Even Emperor scorpions have been seen to maintain family bonds. These family bonds are somewhat unique among arthropods but in the case of scorpions, it kind of makes sense.

Scorpion’s reproduction

Scorpions are usually sexually mature around one to two years of age and they’ll perform a mating dance usually in late spring to early fall in which the male grasps the female’s pincers and they twirl around until he finds an appropriate spot to lay his spermatophore. The female will take up his fur metaphor and he’ll leave her alone to ensure he doesn’t become her dinner. The female will be pregnant anywhere from 2 to 18 months at which time she will give birth to anywhere, from 1 to over 100 live scorpion babies.

If it sounds a bit strange it’s because live birth is an odd occurrence in arthropods the babies will ride on their mother’s back until their first mole at which point they will be able to defend themselves and leave to find their own territory. Though, some species may stay with Mom for more than a year in their lifetime scorpions will molt anywhere from around four to nine times and they’ll stop molting when they reach sexual maturity.

Lifespan of scorpions

Depending on the species and the habitats in which they reside.

Scorpions can live anywhere from three to more than twenty years.

Although they tend to be feared some cultures have embraced their uniqueness the ancient Egyptian goddess Serket wore a crown adorned with a scorpion and represented fertility as seen with the mother scorpions protection of her young heck. Even the Babylonians and the Greeks saw fit to include a scorpion in the zodiac anybody in the audience the Scorpion.

Reference: Wikipedia, Britannica