About Scorpions

　What do you think of SCORPIONS? 

"Creatures that looks like crayfish that lives in deserts and can sting and kill humans. "
　Probably most people think like this. That's probably the imagination they got from TV shows, movies, and novels in the past. In fact, there are some misconceptions. 

　First of all,  "desert" part. Of course many scorpions are found in deserts, but surprisingly, they are also found in tropical rainforests, grasslands and so on. They have also been found on trees, in beaches, caves, and alpine areas. The top three countries in the world with the highest number of scorpions found are Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil, and as you know, Venezuela and Brazil are tropical countries. 

　As for the "can sting and kill humans" part. Basically, venomous insects, not only scorpions, use their venom to capture prey and rarely sting humans. In most cases, they sting humans as a threat when humans try to harm them.
　Many people think that all scorpion species are capable of killing humans, but in fact, only a few dozen of the 2,500 species are known to be capable of killing humans. 

　Lastly, as for the "likes crayfish" part, scorpions are not crustaceans such as crayfish, but surprisingly belong to the group of "Arachnids". This group  includes not only scorpions, but also spiders and mites, as well as other creatures such as pseudoscorpions, camel spiders, whip spiders (tail-less scorpions) and whip scorpions (vinegaroons). Many of the creatures are very interesting and unique in appearance. In this website, we focus only on scorpions.