Scorpion+Facts

A scorpion is not an insect. It belongs to a class of animals called //arachnids//, so it is related to spiders and ticks. These are some of the scorpion's relatives.

**Are scorpions venomous **//**? **// Yes, the scorpion can be poisonous to both humans and animals. The smaller a Scorpion is, the more potent its venom will be. As Scorpions grow, their venom gets more diluted by the water they pick up throughout the years. This means that a larger scorpion has weaker venom. Also, the smaller the scorpion, the more painful the sting it produces, because its poison is more potent.

**//How many body parts does a scorpion have? //** A Scorpion has eight legs, and each leg has tiny claws. The scorpion has two large pinchers and a large, bulbous stinger. The stinger is venomous and may poison other insects as well as humans. Scorpions are arthropods, meaning they do not have an internal skeleton. They have a hard external skeleton (exoskeleton) which protects them and helps them conserve water. Their exoskeleton has tiny hairs which allow them to feel and detect temperature changes.

//**Predators **// Scorpions have many predators. Some of these predators include various carnivorous marsupials, rodents, lizards, nocturnal birds (especially owls), bats,centipedes and crikets. Many scorpions are cannibalistic in nature and it is not uncommon for one scorpion to eat another.

For obvious reasons, many vertebrates that feed on scorpions often attack and break the tail of the scorpion before eating it. Tail-break behavior has been reported in grasshopper mice, elf owls, and shrews, to name a few. Pallid bats (//Antrozous pallidus//) of the Southwest are known to land next to a scorpion, crawl over to it, break the tail in capturing it, and then fly off to find a place to feed. Dramatic film sequences showing predation by these bats, as well as by meerkats (in South Africa) and “sand-swimmer” snakes. Many predators of scorpions, including meerkats and //Chionactis// snakes, are also immune to the venom. Lastly, it should be noted that the large black scorpions of Asia and Africa are often eaten by native people.

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