EXPLORING NATURE: SCORPIONS

I have no love for scorpions.

Based on the fact that one stung me most painfully when I picked up a pile of newspapers to recycle, I believe they also have little regard for me.

But you have to hand it to this creepy crawler, it has been around virtually unchanged for millions of years and is a real survivor.

There are 1,200 species of scorpions worldwide and 16 species in Texas. The state’s most common varieties are Texas cave, straight-faced solifugid, Florida bark, striped bark, lindo and lesser stripetail.

In our central Texas area, the most common kind is the striped bark scorpion.

The only truly poisonous one in the U.S. is the Arizona bark scorpion. Its sting, if untreated, can cause severe medical complications in children and adults with special allergies.

In Arizona, some 8,000 people are stung by scorpions each year. I don’t have figures for Texas, but assume they are similar.

Worldwide, some of the most dangerous scorpions are found in the Middle East and especially in Iraq, where one variety is named the death stalker. Venezuela has a potent variety called the Trinidad.

Scorpions love dark, damp spaces and will make themselves at home under refrigerators, behind curtains and under piles of firewood. Thankfully, they do not climb into beds since they have eight legs, but do not have any arms to assist in climbing vertically.

Boric acid/Borax will kill scorpions and some stores carry special baits to poison them. I have a few around my place and they seem to work. At least I haven’t seen a scorpion in a long time.

And that’s fine with me.