chris

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I will try to find out everything about

=---Scorpions=

I chose Scorpions because they are interesting and I didn’t know much about them. Scorpions are scary and can give painful and sometimes life threatening **stings**. Scorpions are also one of the oldest known **arthropods (Greek,: joint foot)**. Fossil scorpions found 430 million years ago are very similar to today’s species. Scorpions are venomous arthropods in the class **Arachnida.** They are relatives of spiders, mites, ticks, pseudo-scorpions and others. There are about 1400 species of scorpions worldwide. Scorpions have an long body and a segmented tail that is tipped with a venomous stinger. They have four pairs of legs and pedipalps with pincers on the end, which are used for grasping.



As arachnids, scorpions have mouthparts called chelicerae, a pair of pedipalps, and four pairs of legs. The pincer-like pedipalps are used for hunting and defense. They are also covered with sensory hairs. The body is divided into two main regions, the head and chest area (cephalothorax) and an abdomen. The cephalothorax is covered above by a shield that has a pair of main eyes and 2 to 5 pairs of lateral eyes. The abdomen consists of 12 segments, with the last five forming the tail. At the end of the tail is the venom gland and a sharp, curved stinger to deliver the venom. Underneath, the scorpion has a pair of comb-like sense organs called the pectines. These are larger in the men and are used to sense the texture and vibration of surfaces. They also serve as sensors to detect pheromones (smells) of females.
 * Appearance**



The earliest scorpion-like animals lived in the oceans. Over a period of millions of years, they came out of the water and their gills slowly turned into lungs. Nowadays, Scorpions live on all continents except Antarctica. They can live in deserts, grasslands, rainforests, on seashores and even snow-covered mountains. Although most scorpions prefer hot, dry climates, some can survive freezing temperatures for several weeks. Others can survive under water for up to two days. One species even lives in caves up to 800 m (2625 feet) below the surface.
 * //Scorpion Habitat//**



//__**Diet**__// Scorpions have a venomous sting. At night, they go out and hunt for their food. Some species wait at their burrow entrance for victims, others go out and hunt actively, even in trees. Prey is detected by sensing vibrations with the pectine organs. The pedipalps have an array of fine sensory hairs that sense air-borne vibrations; the tips of the legs have small hairs that detect vibrations in the ground. Scorpions can feed on beetles, crickets, termites, millipedes, centipedes, woodlice, spiders and other scorpions. Some large scorpions also devour lizards and mice.



Although scorpions are generally well armed and hide in their burrows during the day, they still have a variety of predators. Black widow spiders sometimes manage to entangle them in their webs. Birds, for example roadrunners, can eat scorpions. Lizards, snakes and toads also make scorpions part of their diet.
 * //Predators//**



Scorpions have a long mating ritual in which the male uses his pincers to grasp the female. The male then leads her in a "courtship dance". After mating, it takes several month for the babies to develop in their mother. The young are born alive and then climb on their mother's back. She helps them by making a birth basket with her folded legs to catch them as they are born. Most mothers gives birth to about 25-35 young. They stay on her back until they shed their skin for the first time, usually one to three weeks after birth. Once they climb down, they start living by themselves. Scorpions shed their skin five or six times over the next two to six years until they reach adulthood. The average scorpion lives three to five years, but some species may live up to 25 years.
 * //Life cycle//**



Amazing Scorpion Facts
· scorpions have 6 to 12 eyes · a scorpion has 4 pairs of lungs · a scorpion’s heart is divided into 7 chambers · scorpions can live for up to 25 years · scorpions can survive a nuclear attack · 500 million years ago lived a scorpion that was 2 metres long · some scorpions have light sensitive cells in their tail so, when they are head down in their burrow, they can still tell whether it’s day or night · mother scorpions carry their young on their back · a scorpion can survive without food for 1 year · the scorpion’s close relative, the false scorpion, can actually make a web · some scorpions make a buzzing sound by strumming their sting over their tail