Scorpions

Scorpions

  Scorpions are members of the class Arachnida along spiders, harvestmen, ticks, and mites. They are one of the oldest if not the oldest living animal on Earth. Their fossils go back 430 million years to the Silurian period. Early in Earth’s natural history scorpions and closely related animals live in the oceans. They breathe using gills instead of book lungs scorpions used today.

 

  Most scorpions live in the warmer parts of the world. However scorpions can be found in every continent except Antarctica. Scorpions live in just about any habitat from deserts to forests to high altitude mountains. Any place they can dig a burrow. They find cover from other bigger predators during the day in underground burrows or holes. Scorpions become active at night. They use many very sensitive hairs to sense their environment and hunt for their prey. Scorpions are opportunistic predators normally eat insects and other small invertebrates. They use their pinchers to catch their prey. Then use the stinger at the end of their narrow segmented tail curved over their back to inject fast acting neurotoxin venom. This paralyzes or kills their victim before they eat it. It is also used for defense against other bigger predators. Like spiders scorpion can only eat food in liquid form so their food is digested externally. All scorpions can deliver painful stings to humans but only 25 species have venom powerful enough to kill an adult.