Crawling on Eight Legs
Many people shudder when they see a spider. But most spiders are harmless, and some are even helpful. How do spiders help people? They eat many harmful insects. They munch grasshoppers and locusts, which destroy crops. They also snap up flies and mosquitoes, which carry disease.
Many people think spiders are insects. But they are not. Insects have wings, feelers, and six legs. Spiders have neither wings nor feelers, and they have eight legs. Eight-legged animals are called arachnids.
Scorpions are close relatives of spiders. Scorpions live in warm, dry places such as deserts. Scorpions have eight legs, like spiders. But mother scorpions don’t lay eggs, as many spiders do. Baby scorpions come out of the mother’s body. They climb up onto her back and hang on as she carries them around.
A scorpion uses its claws to grab its prey. Then it pulls the victim into its mouth and chews it up. Sometimes the scorpion kills its prey with a poisonous sting. The stinger is a sharp, curved spike at the end of the scorpion’s tail. The stings of some scorpions are dangerous to people.