Scorpions are small insect-like creatures that belong to the class arachnids. They live in the tropical areas of the world. They hide themselves in dark places, under logs or stones, and wait for their prey. Their fossil history goes back to 400 million years, and it is believed that they must have been among the earliest of land living arthropods. Today about 600 species of scorpions are known to man.
Scorpions are quite ferocious animals, and hence they are forced to a solitary life. In the houses, they find safe hiding places in shoes, beds and even under the carpets. If threatened or disturbed, they do not hesitate to sting over and over again. However, the severity of the sting varies from species to species. Although their sting is very painful, yet normally it’s not fatal. However, some tropical species like the Egyptian scorpion, leiurus, can be very dangerous and even cause death. The poison acts by paralyzing the nerves of the heart and chest muscles. In the United States and Mexico more people die from scorpion stings than from snake bites.
They are usually black or yellowish in appearance ranging from 1.3 to 17.5 cm in length. The body of a scorpion can be divided into two major parts. The first part is the cephalothorax which consists of the head and the chest. The hind part is the long abdomen, which tapers to form a tail. The tail has a stinger at the tip. The scorpions have a pair of claws and four pairs of legs. The claws are used to capture their prey using the large pincers. Scorpions use the stings which is located at the tip of its tail, to stun or kill their prey.
Scorpions are nocturnal animals, i.e. active mainly at night. They feed mainly on insects, spiders and other small animals. The female scorpions bear their young alive. The newly-born ones stay with the mother for several days, clinging to her body with their tiny pincers.
The sting is a curved organ at the end of its tail and two glands at the base give out a poison that flows from two pores. Most of the people fear the scorpion because of its sting. On the other hand, most of the scorpions do not sting human beings unless troubled, and prefer to retreat rather than fight.