What is a scorpion?

Scorpions are distant relatives of spiders, but while spiders bite, scorpions carry their venom in poison glands near the stinger that they carry at the tip of the tail. Many scorpions live in arid areas, such as deserts, where they will shelter from the heat of the day under stones or in the burrow of another animal, and hunt insects at night. Other species live in jungles and shelter under bark during the day. When a scorpion spots prey, it raises its tail ready to strike, and once it has caught its victim paralyses or kills it by stinging it. A scorpion will also raise its tail as a display when it meets anything that it sees as a threat, such as a meerkat or a large spider. Scorpions range in size from those that are only 1 or 2 cm as full-grown adults to as much as 17 cm. None will deliberately attack a human, except in self-defence so people may get stung if they accidentally disturb one.

Fact file

There is a fly called a scorpion fly which has the characteristic scorpion tail. The long beak-shaped mouth is suited to scavenging for meals.