by Christopher Putnam
Words to know before you read
- Antivenin- Medicine that protects people from an animal's poisonous bite or sting.
- Habitat- Place where an animal or plant lives.
- Predator- Animal that kills other animals for food.
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Prey- Animal hunted for food by another animal or animals.
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- Nocturnal- Animal that is active at night.
- Venom- Poisonous substance some animals use to kill prey or defend themselves.
- Symptoms- How you look or feel when sick; like a fever or rash.
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Images in this article are linked to more information.
 Wherever they live, scorpions are nocturnal predators. Hunting at night, a
scorpion will eat almost anything, even other scorpions. In fact, a scorpion's
favorite food is another scorpion! A scorpion grabs prey with its pincers and
then stings it. Some scorpions have such powerful pincers they seldom use
their stinger. First the scorpion breaks the cricket or beetle into tiny pieces.
When the pile is big enough, the scorpion spits strong digestive juices
onto the pile of bug bits. The juices melt the bits into soft sticky stew.
When the stew is soft enough, the scorpion sucks the gooey pieces into its
mouth.
Besides having bad table manners, scorpions are also very tough. Some scorpions can survive
a whole year with no food. Other scorpions can live for two days under water or survive
long periods of cold. Scorpions may also live for a long time. They generally live
between 2-10 years, but some might live as long as 25 years! Not bad for such little guys
who are usually only one or two inches long.
Scorpions are often misunderstood. Many people say that scorpions are so aggressive
they will sting themselves to death, but this is not a natural behavior of scorpions
in the wild. Other people say the sting of a baby scorpion is more dangerous than the
sting of an adult, but again, this is false. The venom in a scorpion's stinger is the
same all through a scorpion's life. Perhaps the biggest myth is that all scorpions
are deadly, and this is totally wrong. Only a very few scorpions are potentially
dangerous to people. Of the 1,500 known scorpion species only 25 have a sting potent enough
to be considered potentially dangerous to humans. Only one lives in the United States.
The most dangerous scorpion in Arizona is the bark scorpion, Centruroides sculpturatus.
 In the southwestern United States, Arizona is home to a large number of bark scorpions.
Arizona is also home of the only scorpion antivenin program in North America.
Scorpion antivenin is used to treat severe scorpion stings. Marilyn Bloom directs
of the Arizona State University Scorpion Antivenin Program. She reports that despite the
large number of people and scorpions in Arizona, only about 100 stings each year receive
scorpion antivenin, and most of those are either young children or elderly adults.
Most important for severe scorpion stings is immediate access to medical treatment,
whether or not antivenin is available. In less developed countries, lack of transportation
to medical care contributes to higher numbers of scorpion stings resulting in illness
or death. No scorpion sting-related death has been reported in Arizona for more than
40 years.
Marilyn Bloom's advice to avoid a scorpion sting is simple. "Don't put your fingers or
toes where you can't see them," she says. If you think scorpions are around, shake out your
clothes and shoes before putting them on, especially if you are outdoors. Always
wear shoes when outdoors, particularly around swimming pools or other water sources.
If you find scorpions in your home be sure to look under your bed linens before
getting into bed. Also, remember scorpions are active at night. Watch out for them
after dark. Most importantly, never play with scorpions. Even though they are
interesting, they are wild creatures and might hurt you.
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Set stinger to stun ....
Research on some scorpions has shown that they
have two types of venom. One is good for killing
prey and the other is better for stunning or
just warning other creatures away, like you and
me. It is kind of like the characters in Star
Trek that can set their phaser weapons to stun
or kill. The stun venom is easier to make for a
scorpion and can be used more often. The
venom used to kill its prey takes a lot more time and energy
to make so scorpions usually use it on things they want to
kill and eat. |
 If you think a scorpion has stung you there are a few symptoms to watch out for.
Symptoms include: Local pain where stung but no swelling; touching the area
is painful; numbness and tingling in parts of the body distant from the sting;
trouble focusing eyes or random eye movements; trouble swallowing, drooling and
the tongue feels swollen; slurred speech; young children may rub their faces which
may indicate facial numbness; muscle twitching; and restlessness, irritability, or
hyperactivity. Not all these symptoms will occur in every person, although some
should appear in the first two-three hours. Children under 10 years are at higher risk
than other people.
First aid for a scorpion sting is simple. Wash the sting site with soap and
water. You may apply a cool compress to the sting site, but do not use ice.
Numbness and tingling should pass away in time. If symptoms persist or are
severe, seek medical attention.
Here are some other places to read and learn about scorpions.
On the Web:
There are hundreds of sites on the web, but their web addresses often change.
It is best to look for them using a search engines and try these key words scorpions,
Centruroides sculpturatus.
Books:
Scorpions by Conrad Storad
Scorpions and Venomous Insects of the Southwest by Erik D. Stoops and
Jeffery L. Martin
Tarantulas and Scorpions- Their Care in Captivity by Wayne Rankin and
Jerry G. Walls
References: Bora Inceoglu, et al. One scorpion, two venoms: Prevenom of
Parabuthus transvaalicus acts as an alternative type of venom with distinct
mechanism of action. Proceeding. of the National. Academy of Science.
http://pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.242735499. Accessed 7,08,09.
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