Deadly Death-stalkers
Death-stalker Scorpions are super-cool arachnids. They are one of the world?s most dangerous scorpions and kill a few people each year especially young children and old people. The reason for the name Death-stalker is probably because when it bites you, death is stalking you, but some people keep them as pets, anyways!
Although these creatures are highly feared, they are not completely bad. One good thing about Death-stalkers is that scientists think that parts of the death-stalkers? venom may be able to treat brain tumors and diabetes. Luckily or unluckily, Death-stalkers are very rare, so not many people get bitten by them, but the medicines to cure brain tumors and diabetes are harder to find.
Death-stalkers are super interesting looking animals. They are light yellow colored with black on the end of its long, slender tail and grey on its back. The black on the end of the tail is not always present which only confuses identification. When talking about Death-stalkers, most scientists use the scientific name (Leiurus Quinquestriatus) as not to confuse it with other dangerous species of scorpions. The scientific name (Latin) (Leiurus Quinquestriatus) translates to ?Five-striped Smooth-tail?.
Death-stalkers are native to northern Africa and the Middle East and live in natural burrows and under stones in deserts and scrublands, so right as we got to Dana National Reserve, Jordan, I started flipping over rocks. I was very excited when under the first rock that I flipped over was a Death-stalker Scorpion! Right away I started taking Macro pictures of it and looking at it. Death-stalker Scorpions are really interesting creatures and I am glad that I got to see one in the wild.