Amazing creatures, the Scorpion. (A bunch of surprises)

For this article, i'm going to combine concepts and facts about this beautiful creatures with a strange behavior that i saw once years ago.

Scorpions or "alacranes" belong to the classification of arthropods, they have 8 legs, a very long tail that coils in the upper part and a stinger that is full of poison. Only about a quarter of them possess a highly dangerous poison, although the fact that they can kill human beings, makes them feared creatures.

The smallest species of scorpions is about ½ inch in size, while the largest species can reach a size of up to 7 ½ inches. They are creatures that present a great variety of colors, which allows them to mix well with the surrounding areas. They can be brown, black or even a greenish color.

There are more than 1700 species of scorpions that have already been identified, they can vary in size depending on the species and its habitat. Some may have only 6 eyes, while other species have up to 12, however none of them has good vision. Instead, they rely on their vibrations and their sense of smell.

Scorpions live on rocks, sand and other dissimilar places. They are very flexible, so there is no limit to where you can find them. They eat abundantly as long as there are insects and rodents available. Food is not a concern because it is known that they can spend a year without food or water.

These creatures reproduce through a mating process that takes place between males and females. However, some species have the ability to fertilize eggs without the presence of male sperm, this being a very interesting concept that researchers continue to investigate.

Usually a scorpion needs around 6 years to reach the age of maturity. On the way to this, you will go through several stages of moulting and your body will grow successfully. Only a small percentage of the scorpion population lives until they reach their adult stage.

Scorpions are based on smell and vibrations to meet each other in order to mate, when this happens both begin to participate in a kind of dance ritual very complex. Mating can take from 1 hour to 1 day and once it has finished, each one will follow its path. Sometimes the male who stays with the female ends up becoming his dinner. If he escapes, then he is likely to go in search of food, venturing to woo another female to mate again. The children grow inside the mother and are born alive, during the first weeks of life they will live on her back, so that she can protect them until they leave her.

The gestation period of the scorpions can take from 5 months to 1 year. Before the offspring are born, the female will adopt a very unique position, she will raise her body and will become very rigid, will crouch on her front legs, allowing her offspring to come out. The young scorpions will appear one by one. This can happen in a continuous flow or several minutes can pass between the appearance of one and the other. The mother will have this position until all have been born successfully, but not all will be able to make the climb through their legs until they reach the back.

The mother will take care of her children until the first stage of moulting has occurred, whose number can be between 8 and 100 small scorpions. This number will depend on the species, as well as the environmental factors that surround them. Sometimes mothers often eat their young, instead of taking care of them, it is not yet fully understood why this event occurs. It is believed that it is related to the conditions of the environment where they are located, since if food or the habitat is scarce, it is not a good idea to introduce more inhabitants in the area. This could be a natural mechanism that scorpions have developed to ensure the overall survival of different species.

The life of a scorpion in its natural habitat can last from 2 to 10 years, although some have lived up to 25 years in captivity. The time of life will depend on the type of scorpion in particular, the predators that are present in their habitat and the conditions of life in general.