The Fat Tail Scorpion is one of the deadliest scorpions in the world. It is medium sized and can grow up to 10 cm long. It is different tones of yellows. It’s cauda is thick, strong, and darker at the tip. Also, their tails are incredibly thick.

 

They can be found in Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen. They live in dry habitats/desert areas. It is found in stony soils, cactus hedges, and arid mountainous regions. The scorpion doesn’t dig large burrows but hide under stones and in natural crevices.

 

It avoids humid areas. Unfortunately, it is found near humans habitations in cracks in walls made of stones and bricks They eat insects smaller than they are and spiders. They hide during the day and come out on warm nights to find mates and food, and to defend its territory. When they trap their prey in their pincers they cut them to pieces or crush them.

 

They compete for their food with other scorpions. Did you know that Androctnus means “man-killer” from Greek andros, meaning “man” and kteinein, meaning “kill”. This scorpion’s sting can kill in 2 hours and faster if you are allergic to it.

 

Author: Vivian Y

Published: 02/2008

 

Sources:

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/a_australis.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fattail_scorpion http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/invertebrates/spidersandscorpions /egyptianfattailedscorpion.htm http://huojin.blogs.friendster.com/popism/2007/05/androctonus_aus.html

 

Photo Credit: Milan Korinek http://www.biolib.cz/cz/taxonimage/id27268/