Scorpions have been around a long time, about 450 million years and there were many species, but lots of them have become extinct during the process of evolution. But fear not, we still have enough different species to be going on with !

The Scorpion has eight legs and they belong to the Arachnid class of insects which similar to spiders, mites and ticks. The Scorpion is a highly venomous invertebrate with a relatively elongated body and an erectile tail ending with a telson otherwise know as the sting.

Scorpions like to live in hot regions of the world like Arizona, Texas and Nevada in the USA.  The USA's hot regions can actually claim to be resident to about 90 species of Scorpion.  Scorpions have however adapted to live in warm regions too like pine forests in the mountains of Canada, the rain forests of the Amazon, in the Himalayas of Asia and even in the Austrian Alps.  Scorpions hibernate during cold months and go into a dormant state of suspended animation as their metabolism slows right down.

The Scorpion has three main parts, the head, the abdomen and the tail with its all important sting.  The head is covered in a hard bony covering and has between 2 and  5 pairs of eyes along with a pair of strong and fearsome pincers that protrude outwards, these pincers are used to capture and hold prey whilst the sting is administered. It can be noted too that these pincers and their limbs are covered in fine hairs that sense vibrations in the air along with the tips of its legs that also detect vibrations.

The whole of the Scorpions body and legs are covered in a hard bony shell that acts like armour plating and offer good defense against similar sized insects that it may have to do battle with. On a one to one scale it would be hard to penetrate.

Scorpions are not always seen in daytime as they are nocturnal and they hunt at night, they do this by lying in wait and ambushing their prey as they sense their approach with their finely attuned sensors.  Centipedes, Tarantula Spiders, small lizards, mice, small snakes and even other Scorpions are all on the Scorpions menu.

The Scorpion is most notable for "The sting in the tale" the venom is stored in a bulb like sack almost at the end of the tail and it is administered to the unlucky victim through a very sharp needle point sting.  The venom paralyses its quarry in a second or less, then the Scorpion squirts acid from its mouth onto it to dissolve the tissues before sucking up the slushy remains.

Scorpion venom differentiates from species to species but are mostly made up of sodium chlorine, peptides and different mixtures of proteins. The venom acts on the nervous system of the prey and it is 100% effective...every time. Scorpions can decide on the amount of venom they administer to its victims on a conservative basis, they never drain themselves of sting so always have some in reserve.

Most Deadliest.

There are only about 20 or so species of Scorpion worldwide that have venom powerful enough to seriously hurt or at worse kill a man with a sting and one of the most deadly if not the most deadly  of Scorpions is the aptly and sinister named 'Death Stalker' Lieurus quinquestriatus pictured below.  This Scorpion more commonly found in the deserts of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries and its a true killer.

 The mechanism of death from  the sting of a 'Death Stalker' can take up to 12 hours depending on the amount of venom injected and the size and fitness of the victim. Sweating, and dizziness are then superceded by headaches followed by severe pain in all the joints.  Fever now starts to take hold after about 4 hours,  later leading to convulsions, muscular spasms and finally as the fever takes its final hold coma followed by death. Scorpion stings like snake bites have to be dealt with within a couple of hours to prevent a truly horrible death.

Young children and elderly are the ones that generally suffer the most from scorpion stings as these persons are not strong enough to resist the venom and can suffer convulsions, frothing saliva, breathing problems and agonizing pains although death is rare. Most stings occur when the Scorpion is accidentally trod on with bare feet or a shoe is not checked properly before ones feet or placed within.

Generally though Scorpions are timid and will run from danger or remain very very still until the danger has passed. Scorpions, it is believed, like to preserve and reserve their venom and will not waste it if they can help it.

The bigger the Scorpion is the less dangerous the venom, as it becomes diluted with its growth, the small Scorpions like the 'Death Stalker' though are very dangerous as their venom is more concentrated.  The picture below shows a bigger variety of Scorpion.....

.....even so, you wouldn't catch me playing with one one like this.

Credits for this photo to insect hobbyist 'RyeDog' 

Scorpions however, are quite easy to see at night, if you are equipped with a long wave ultra violet light...as Scorpions glow in the dark when UV light falls on them. This is due to the chemicals in their armour shell that react to and reflect UV light. Scorpions have helped science to help develop UV reactive chemicals such as dyes and marker pens used in crime detection, prevention to name a few.

Scorpions have a life span of two to six years and grow to about a maximum of 3 inches long from head to outstretched tail. The Scorpions of the US desert regions can grow to 5 or 6 inches in length but the  biggest Scorpions in the world are from Africa, their scientific name is Hadogenes Troglodytes and can grow to 9 inches in length...a truly awesome thing to find in your shoe in the morning ! 

On the brighter side, Ante Venom was created in Mexico and it looks like the Scorpion stings will be finally combatted. As with all new compounds and antidotes to poisons though much rigorous testing has to be carried out before they can be released to the public. But until ante venoms become available on a wide scale spectrum the Scorpion will still reign supreme as a most awesome little creature.