First, the male and female scorpion grab each other with their pincers, and ‘dance’ – a process which allows the female to test the strength of the male, and the male to lead his partner around to find a suitable spot to leave his sperm packet for her to take.
Scorpions have four pairs of legs, two pinchers and a poison-tipped tail. They live throughout the Lone Star State, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
The stinging arachnids eat insects and typically hide out under rocks and litter — but occasionally they come out for the Parks and Wildlife paparazzi to snap pics and make them internet famous.
Mother Scorpions Can Eat Young
Sometimes when the mother scorpion cannot find enough insects, bugs or grub worms to eat, she will eat her own babies. Luckily this is only a last resort! Thanks to the good rains and abundance of insects at Kariega Game Reserve, these baby scorpions are still safely where they ought to be – on their mother’s back.
One of the benefits of being a Kariega Conservation Volunteer is that you get to experience the African bush from a different perspective. Activities like bush clearing, eliminating alien vegetation, planting spekboom and sitting for hours observing the habits and movements of various species of animals encourages you to keep your eyes open for the small wonders of Africa rather than just the Big 5.
Recently the hard working Kariega Conservation Volunteers were rewarded with this sighting of a mother scorpion carrying her young on her back.
“Newborn scorpions have very soft exoskeletons and cannot sting so they climb onto their mother’s back for protection”.
