Article: World of the Scorpion


Earth Explorer
02-01-1995
Case in Point: Scorpion Comes Armed for Survival

How do you find scorpions in the middle of the night? Scientist Allen Polis finds them by beaming ultraviolet radiation on the desert floor. (Ultraviolet radiation consists of wavelengths of light too short for humans to see.) A substance in the scorpion's hard external covering glows when exposed to ultraviolet light. That makes the secretive creatures easy to spot.
Polis is a biologist with Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee. From his studies he has learned that at least some of these night hunters are cannibals; that is, they feed on members of their own species. Scorpions also feed on spiders, ...

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