Evolution has created amazing shapes and designs in nature and scorpions are one such example. Scorpions are ‘arthropods’ having an exoskeleton, a segmented body, eight legs, a pair of grasping pincers and a segmented tail that curves back over the back with a stinger at the end. The scorpion has venom glands located below the pincer and the hypodermic pincer is used to inject the venom in the body of the scorpion’s prey or is used in self-defense. Most of the scorpions carry small quantities of venom that are enough to kill their prey and are non-lethal to humans.
Highly successful organisms, scorpions have been around for the last 435 million years and are found across the planet on all continents except Antarctica. There are over 2500 known species of scorpions in the world. Completely predatory in nature, scorpions primarily prey upon insects and invertebrates but some species are known to take vertebrates including lizards, snakes and small mammals.
Scorpions are the creatures of the night. They hide in the leaf litter or the natural burrows and tree cavities during the day and become active in the night. Scorpions are threatened by man-animal conflict, conversion of their habitat for developmental works, illegal wildlife trade and changes in weather patterns.
This Black Scorpion was observed by Jim’s Jungle Retreat naturalists, while it was on its nightly prowl.