Top 10 Coolest Facts About Scorpions
We're taking another break from the darkness that my lists have mostly emulated, post Top 10 Worst Parts of the Dark Ages. While I'm sure you'd prefer me doing projects on other creatures, Scorpions have some some interesting facts about them. Behold what makes Scorpions amazing:
Unlike insects, which usually lay eggs, scorpions give birth to live babies through viviparity. Some scorpions develop inside a membrane, where they get food, drink, and other forms of nourishment from the yolk of their eggs and directly from their mothers. Other species of scorpions grow without a membrane and receive nourishment directly from their mothers.
For scorpions, the gestational stage (or put simply, how long the conception is) can be as short as two months or as long as eighteen months, depending on the species. After birth, the newborn scorpions ride on their mother's back, not only to keep them safe but because it's not much of a burden for the mother. They do so until they molt, or shed their skin, for the first time. After they molt for the first time, they are on their own.
If you had a time machine and went back in time three hundred million years, you would see that ancient scorpions do not appear very different from the modern-day species living all around the world today. Fossils show that scorpions have not changed much since the Carboniferous period, which started about 300 million years ago and ended around 250 million years ago.
The ancestors of today's scorpions more than likely lived in the seas and may possibly have had gills. By the Silurian period, about four hundred and twenty million years ago, some of these creatures had adapted to their environments so they could live both on land and in the sea. Early scorpions may have had compound eyes like those of insects, as opposed to the eyes of arachnids.
We dismiss them for being lethal because their venom does indeed kill, but hear me out. Extensive research has shown plenty of helpful parts of scorpion venom, deeper inside the scorpions.
Scorpion venom has already proven to be a font for biomimicry in medical aspects, and countless more remain undiscovered. Venom from deathstalker scorpions contains chlorotoxin, which has been the catalyst for new approaches for diagnosing and treating certain cancers. Venom from your typical Asian scorpion has antimicrobial peptides that may be great for fighting bacteria, fungi, malaria parasites, and even arthritis. Other scorpion venom compounds have also shown important medical purposes.
Scorpions engage in a peculiar ordeal that scientists have dubbed "the promenade à deux," which in English is simply "a walk for two." This dance starts when the male and female make contact, not that different from humans. The male takes his partner by her pincers and smoothly walks her back and forth until he finds a proper location to deposit his sperm. Once he finds a place to put his sperm, he leads the female over it and positions her so she can absorb the sperm.
The dance lasts in some cases for just a couple of minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the species of scorpion. However, this never ends well for the male. In the wild, the male leaves the female, and in captivity, the female eats the male.
Scorpions glow under ultraviolet light. Scorpion skin, referred to as cuticles, absorbs UV light and reflects it as visible light, making the scorpion glow. This makes research on scorpions much easier for scientists. They just wait for nightfall in a scorpion habitat, and the scorpions light up.
Despite knowing of about 600 scorpions maybe a few decades ago, in 2022, scientists have recorded information on almost 2,000 scorpion species by using UV lights to locate the scorpions. Scorpions that recently shed their skin don't glow in the dark because their cuticle is then soft and doesn't have the substances that cause fluorescence. Even scorpion fossils can still glow after hundreds of millions of years in stone.
Sure, scorpions can sting, and being stung by a scorpion isn't exactly fun. But truth be told, scorpions can't harm humans as severely as implied. Of the 2,000+ known species of scorpions, only 25 have venom poisonous enough to kill an adult human. Children are at higher risk of death via scorpion venom, just because they're, generally speaking, smaller in size than adults. In the United States, there's only one scorpion that is a big threat to adults. This is the Arizona bark scorpion. The Arizona bark scorpion has venom strong enough to kill a small child. Even so, there is antivenom available where the Arizona bark scorpion resides, so casualties are still uncommon.
Scorpions are considered delicacies in many countries, such as China and Vietnam. Depending on geography, they may be consumed in different ways. In rural China, children and adults go hunting for scorpions, but in urban areas, they're sold as snacks, like hot dogs in New York.
Although scorpions are not easy to find during the day, they are very easy to find at night, as they hunt at night. Additionally, under ultraviolet light, scorpions glow in the dark. Seasoned hunters usually wear gloves to avoid getting stung and pick them up by their tails.
It may be a shocker, or it might be common knowledge depending on who you ask, but you can even eat the stinger. A short time after the scorpion is killed, the poison in the venom becomes chemically inactive and can't harm you.
The average lifespan of any arachnid is about two or three years. Not exactly what you would call a long lifespan to begin with, especially in contrast with most mammals or other creatures that have long lifespans. However, if you zero in on certain groups of arachnids, things get a little interesting. If you focus on the average lifespan of spiders, it's still about two years. However, if you focus on scorpions, not only do they exceed the average lifespan of spiders by about four years, but many scorpions can reach and occasionally exceed twenty years of age. This is much more likely to happen in the wild, as opposed to in captivity, despite that usually going in the opposite direction for most other animals.
This is something that I mentioned in a separate part of this list. While they mostly stick to eating spiders, centipedes, flies, and other insects, it is not unheard of for scorpions to eat other scorpions. It's mostly a grown female scorpion that is a cannibal. Left in captivity, some scorpions will eat their mate. In the wild, if a mother scorpion cannot find enough insects, shrubs, spiders, and so on to feed both herself and her babies alike, she will indeed eat her offspring. Fortunately, this is only a last resort, and scorpions otherwise only prey on bugs and shrubs. However, survival of the fittest can and will kick in if needed. Otherwise, mother scorpions are caring mothers.
This is when two or more male scorpions find a female they want to mate with. There's nothing new to this. Giraffes slam each other with their necks to fight over mates. Scorpions sting each other. Nature has this down pat.
Okay, I am obviously not talking about the Indian red scorpion, the Arizona bark scorpion, or any venomous type. I am simply talking about the harmless breeds. Pet scorpions can be educational, allowing people to learn more about them.
Both forest-dwelling and desert-dwelling scorpions are considered beginner-level pets by professionals who sell them. Breeds such as the Emperor scorpion, Tanzanian red-clawed scorpion, and Malaysian black scorpion are relatively obedient and usually do not become aggressive unless they feel threatened.
When they shed their skin for the first time, it could scare new pet owners because the shed skin looks like a dead scorpion. Other than that, they're great pets from what I've heard.