Even the largest scorpion attacks a person only in emergency cases in order to protect himself or his offspring. It can attack if it is frightened, or its housing is destroyed. In the event of an inevitable conflict, it is worth making some noise, and the scorpion will not attack. He does not mess with someone who is larger than him.
Record contenders
The Imperial Scorpion is by far the largest. Females are somewhat larger than males, they can weigh up to 50 g. Their male relatives rarely gain more than 30 g of weight. In length, an adult individual reaches an average of 20 cm.
Due to their large size and spectacular appearance, these arthropods are not uncommon inhabitants of terrariums.
Another contender for the role of the main giant, slightly inferior to the clear leader, is Heterometrus swammerdami. Usually the body length does not exceed 17 cm, but during the Second World War, a simply unique individual belonging to this species was discovered. The length of the find exceeded 29 cm, and the weight reached 56 grams.
Appearance
Scorpion appearancerather unusual: a cephalothorax, a long body, six pairs of limbs and a tail ending in a needle sticking up, at the end of which there are a pair of holes for poisonous glands. A pair of impressive claws serve as a tool for capturing food. Located near the mouth, the paired limbs of the scorpion are used as a jaw to soften the extracted food.
The scorpion, whose photo you will see in this article, is provided with comfortable and relatively high speed movement by four pairs of limbs attached to the abdomen.
This animal injects its poison into the caught victim with the help of a sharp needle. From enemies that could harm him, he is reliably protected by a strong chitinous shell.
Hunting methods
Scorpion is known as a predator. But few people know about the methods of hunting the largest scorpion. Despite the presence of a large number of eyes (in different species from 6 to 12), their eyesight is not very good.
Scorpions in nature hunt at night, which has baffled experts. With the advent of darkness, the animal gets out of its shelter and freezes. In a stationary state, he can be for a long time, waiting until the victim approaches him at a certain distance. When potential food enters the attack zone, the scorpion makes a quick lunge and pinches the victim.
Scientists were very interested in the method of hunting, but they could not understand how the scorpion recognizes the direction of the victim and the distance to it. For the experiment, a special polygon with sand was built. After observing forFor some time, scientists came to the conclusion that a scorpion can orient itself in the direction of movement of its prey at a distance of up to 30, and performs an accurate attack at a distance of up to 10 centimeters. The only thing left unclear was how he does it.
Experiments with scorpion vision have failed. The arthropod was painted over all the eyes with a colorless varnish, but this did not affect its behavior. It turns out that small hairs grow on the paws of a scorpion, which serve as a kind of locator. With their help, he picks up the slightest fluctuations in the sand and accurately determines the place where the victim is. The location of the legs, which build an almost regular circle, also plays a significant role.
Diet
Scorpions eat only living food. They prey on cockroaches, grasshoppers, spiders. But the largest scorpions often attack mice and small lizards. It does not attack potential prey that exceeds its size, but takes a defensive stance. Determines the size of the prey by fluctuations in the air and small particles under the legs.
Among all scorpions, including the largest ones, there are cases of cannibalism, when a stronger and larger individual devours a smaller representative of the species.
The digestive system is built in a special way in scorpions. Because of this, they do not need to eat daily, they take food about twice a week. Moisture in the required amount is obtained by eating their victims.
Photos of scorpions give a clear idea that they are strong and dexterous animals. They arealso very durable. They can live without food for quite a long time of life, they are not very picky about food. There were cases when these arthropods did not eat for more than 1.5 years.
The need for water varies by species and habitat. For example, the imperial scorpion, which lives in the deserts of Africa, needs moisture in very small quantities. And heterometrus, its main competitor for the title of the largest representative of the class, living in tropical forests, is extremely difficult without it.
Scorpion breeding
Males ready to mate search for a mate at night, leaving behind a trail of scented substance that attracts a female. The male himself follows the trail left by the female, recognizing it with the help of villi on the organs of touch at the bottom of the body. When the two halves meet, the male walks towards the female with its stinger raised, which is a signal of intent to mate. All this is necessary so that the female does not confuse the groom with her prey. But if the female is not ready to mate or is very hungry, despite all the signs of the male, she will simply eat him.
The mating process is led by the male. Partners linked by claws begin to move back and forth, dancing the "courtship dance". This can go on for hours on end. When a suitable site is found, the male secretes a spermatophore, then stretches the female over this site so that her genital opening is above his secretions.
The gestation period of the female lasts up to 1 year, and the cubs are usually born in numbers from 20 to 60. During the week, the female carries helpless babies on her back. They become independent in 10 days, after the first molt. Puberty occurs after 2 years.
Lifespan
The largest scorpion among arachnids rightfully bears the title of centenarian. Emperor scorpions live up to 10 years on average. Life expectancy is influenced by many factors - sufficient availability of food, a considerable number of enemies, air temperature.
Both types of the largest scorpions are suitable for home keeping. They can not only live for a long time, but also breed in captivity.
Where giant scorpions live
Scorpions prefer living in warmer areas with hot climates. The largest scorpions in the world, the emperor scorpions, are distributed throughout Africa. And those who want to look at heterometrus will have to go to the rainforests of Sri Lanka.
Both species of the largest scorpions are active only at night. With the advent of dawn, they hide under stones, in depressions in the soil, under the forest floor, in the bark of trees, in the sand.
Interesting facts
The remains of the largest scorpion on Earth were discovered in Scotland. The dimensions of the fossil were impressive: the length of the crustacean was greater than human height and reached about 2 meters, and the width was 1 meter. The largest scorpion lived about 330 million years ago, and was not a predator, but ate only grass. Lived in water.
Among the many types of scorpionsfound non-poisonous. This can be found by examining the forelimbs. Scorpions that are harmless have large claws, while those with small claws are usually venomous and can cause harm. Both species, claiming to be the largest, are poisonous, but the amount of toxin for humans is too small. However, there have been a few cases where stings from heterometrus or imperial scorpion have caused malaise and local irritation around the wound.
