Did you know?

Did You Know? Scorpions May 5 2008

Scorpions can be referred to as living fossils, because their form has remained virtually unchanged for the past 400 million years. Yet they have diversified to live on all but one continent (Antarctica) and in such extreme environments as bone-dry deserts, soaking tropical rain forests, at 5 500m (18 600ft) in the Andes and in deep caves 800m (20 000ft) underground.

There are 1 500 species worldwide, the heaviest being 32g (1oz) and the smallest 9mm (0.35in). Baja, California is the area with the greatest density of species (13) and Mexico sees the greatest number of human deaths caused by scorpion stings (1 500 annually). Only 25 species are capable of killing humans, all of which belong to the family Buthidae.

Most scorpions remain very close to their burrows, with certain species spending up to 97% of their lives actually inside their burrows.

Some scorpion species can go for a year without eating and others can live for long periods without water, obtaining their moisture requirements from their prey.

The black hairy thick-tailed scorpion (Parabuthus villosus) is unusual among scorpions in that it is active during the day, whereas most other scorpions are active at night. You can see this venomous species in the Earth-Touch clip, Scorpion eats moth, filmed in Namibia.

Watch the predator become prey in the clip, Meal with a sting, when a meerkat eats a scorpion, shaking out the poison. 

Image © Earth-Touch 2008