Emperor scorpion
The emperor scorpion is one of the biggest scorpions in the world, about as long as a pencil. It is shiny black with big, bumpy pincers. Under a special ultraviolet lamp it glows green or blue, like a night light.
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Fun facts
It can dig into termite mounds up to about 2 metres deep to hunt.
Tiny hairs on its pincers and tail feel the shaking of the air and ground, so it knows when food is near.
It can live 6 to 8 years.
So many were caught for pets that it is now protected by an international law.
Most asked questions about Emperor scorpion
?How big is an emperor scorpion?
Grown-ups are about 20 centimetres long, one of the biggest scorpions in the world.
?Why does the emperor scorpion glow?
Like other scorpions, its shell glows green or blue under ultraviolet light.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pandinus imperator
- Group
- Scorpions, ticks and friends
- Family
- Scorpionidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Scorpiones > Scorpionidae
- Lives on
- Africa
Where the facts come from
- Emperor scorpion (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Rosa Pineda. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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