Curious About Scorpions

PODCAST 133: CURIOUS ABOUT SCORPIONS
RELEASE DATE:  APRIL 18TH, 2021

D:  HELLO, AND WELCOME BACK TO THE CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  ALL THE WAY BACK IN EPISODE 9 OF THE PODCAST, WE LEARNED A LOT ABOUT SPIDERS AND SPIDERWEBS.  THIS WEEK, TWO AND A HALF YEARS AFTER THAT EPISODE, WE ARE GOING TO LEARN ABOUT A CLOSE RELATIVE OF THE SPIDER.  

O:  DOUBLE MAILBAG!

D:  DOUBLE MAILBAG!

“HELLOOOOOOOO CURIOUS KIDS!
MASON, AGE 9, WOULD LOVE TO HEAR A PODCAST ON SCORPIONS, AND MIA, AGE 6, WOULD LOVE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TREES.  WE WERE HIKING YESTERDAY AND SHE WAS SO FASCINATED ABOUT HOW THE RINGS TELL YOU HOW OLD THE TREE IS!  THANKS AS ALWAYS! 

-MASON AND MIA OF TORONTO, ONTARIO

O:  WHAT A FANTASTIC E-MAIL.  CHECK OUT EPISODE 32, CURIOUS ABOUT TREES.  WE LEARNED ALL ABOUT TREES AND HOW THE RINGS HELP TELL HOW OLD A TREE IS.  

D:  “HI!  MY NAME IS JAMES AND I’M 8 YEARS OLD.  MY SIBLINGS AND I LOVE LISTENING TO YOUR PODCAST EVERY DAY AT LUNCH.  I’M CURIOUS ABOUT SCORPIONS.  I HOPE YOU CAN FEATURE THEM IN A FUTURE EPISODE.  MY QUESTION IS: HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE STUNG BY SCORPIONS EVERY YEAR?”

O:  ANOTHER AWESOME E-MAIL!  WE ARE GETTING CURIOUS ABOUT SCORPIONS FOR ALL OUR LISTENERS FROM ORLANDO TO TORONTO, AND IN BETWEEN.

D:  BEFORE WE GET STARTED LEARNING MORE ABOUT SCORPIONS, I SHOULD TELL YOU THAT SCORPIONS CREEP ME OUT A BIT.  LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.  WHEN I WAS 17 YEARS OLD, I SPENT A FEW MONTHS IN ISRAEL WITH CLASSMATES.  WHILE I WAS THERE, ME AND A BUNCH OF MY FRIENDS FROM SCHOOL HIKED ACROSS ISRAEL, FROM EAST TO WEST, THROUGH THE NEGEV DESERT, WHICH IS A DESERT IN THE SOUTHERN HALF OF ISRAEL.  WE HAD 2 GUIDES WITH US DURING OUR HIKE.  WE WERE IN THE DESERT FOR 6 DAYS STRAIGHT, MORNING AND NIGHT.  WE SLEPT IN SLEEPING BAGS ON THE DESERT SAND AT NIGHT.  WELL, ON DAY ONE, THE GUIDES TOLD US THAT WE SHOULD CHECK INSIDE OUR SNEAKERS AND SHAKE OUR SNEAKERS OUT AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH DAY BEFORE WE PUT THEM ON, BECAUSE SCORPIONS LIKE HANGING OUT IN SNEAKERS.  WELL, GUESS WHAT I DID.  I WORE MY SNEAKERS TO SLEEP AND DIDN’T TAKE THEM OFF FOR THE ENTIRE 6 DAY HIKE.  THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS LETTING A SCORPION CRAWL INTO MY SNEAKERS.    

O:  DID YOU ACTUALLY SEE ANY SCORPIONS ON YOUR HIKE?

D:  NOPE, NOT A SINGLE ONE, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT THEY WEREN’T AROUND.  SCORPIONS LOVE HIDING, WHICH WE ARE GOING TO LEARN IN JUST A MOMENT.  WHAT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK?

O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS, WHAT ARE BABY SCORPIONS CALLED?

D:  WHILE YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT THE ANSWER, LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT A SCORPION IS.

O:  SCORPIONS ARE ARACHNIDS, WHICH MEANS THAT THEY HAVE EIGHT LEGS.

D:  THAT MAKES THEM CLOSELY RELATED TO SPIDERS AND TICKS.  WHAT ELSE DO YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE WAY SCORPIONS LOOK?

O:  THEY HAVE PINCERS AND A LONG TAIL.

D:  PINCERS ARE THOSE GRABBY THINGS THAT OTHER ANIMALS LIKE CRABS AND LOBSTERS HAVE.  THEY ALLOW SCORPIONS TO GRIP AND PULL.  ANOTHER FUN FACT… THAT LONG TAIL HAS A STINGER AT THE VERY END, AND THE STINGER IS VENOMOUS.  

O:  SCORPIONS ALSO COME IN LOTS OF DIFFERENT SIZES AND COLORS.

D:  LOTS OF SIZES AND COLORS, HUH?  IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE TRYING TO SELL ME A TEE SHIRT.  SCORPIONS DO, INDEED, COME IN LOTS OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES.  THERE ARE ABOUT 2,000 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCORPIONS OUT THERE AND THEY CAN BE FOUND IN A VARIETY OF COLORS LIKE BLACK, BLUE, BROWN, GREEN, AND YELLOW.  THEY CAN ALSO BE ANYWHERE FROM JUST A HALF INCH LONG TO ABOUT 8 INCHES LONG.  

O:  THE BLUE ONES ACTUALLY LOOK KIND OF COOL.  THE OUTSIDE OF THE SCORPION BODY IS A HARD EXOSKELETON.  

D:  THEY DON’T HAVE BONES, SO THEIR BODIES ARE PROTECTED BY THE EXOSKELETON.  

O:  SCORPIONS CAN BE FOUND ALMOST EVERYWHERE ON EARTH.

D:  SO THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS.  NO SCORPIONS ON ANTARCTICA OR GREENLAND, FOR EXAMPLE.  SCORPIONS ARE MORE COMMON IN WARMER CLIMATES.

O:  SCORPIONS LOVE BURROWING AND FINDING GREAT HIDING SPOTS. 

D:  THEY BURROW UNDER SAND AND SOIL, OR THEY HIDE UNDER ROCKS IN AN ATTEMPT TO STAY AWAY FROM PREDATORS.  THIS IS WHY I’M NOT CONVINCED THAT THERE WEREN’T SCORPIONS AROUND WHEN I WAS HIKING ACROSS ISRAEL.  IT’S POSSIBLE THAT THERE WERE LOTS OF THEM, ALL PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK.  

O:  SCORPIONS HAVE TO HIDE FROM THEIR PREDATORS, WHICH INCLUDE BIRDS, LIZARDS, AND RATS.  

D:  THERE IS SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT SCORPIONS THAT MAKES IT HARD FOR THEM TO HIDE FROM HUMANS.  IN FACT, WHEN I FIRST TOLD OLIVIA THAT WE WERE GOING TO DO AN EPISODE ON SCORPIONS, I ASKED HER IF SHE ALREADY KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM.  HOW DID SHE ANSWER THAT QUESTION?

O:  I TOLD YOU THAT THEY CAN GLOW IN THE DARK WITH U.V. LIGHT.

D:  THAT’S AN AMAZING FACT THAT I DIDN’T KNOW UNTIL I DID THE RESEARCH.  IF YOU SHINE AN ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT ON A SCORPION, THEY WILL ABSORB THE ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT AND REFLECT IT BACK AS A VISIBLE LIGHT.  THIS GIVES THE APPEARANCE THAT THEY ARE GLOWING IN THE DARK.  THIS FEATURE HELPED SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW KINDS OF SCORPIONS THEY DIDN’T KNOW EXISTED YET.  HERE IS ANOTHER AMAZING SCORPION FACT.

O:  SCORPIONS CAN GO A REALLY LONG TIME WITHOUT EATING. 

D:  WHEN SCORPIONS ARE HUNGRY, THEY ENJOY EATING MOSTLY INSECTS.  BUT, GET THIS.  SCORPIONS CAN GO AN ENTIRE YEAR WITHOUT EATING.  THEY HAVE A VERY SLOW METABOLISM, AND CAN SLOW IT DOWN EVEN MORE WHEN FOOD ISN’T AROUND.  

O:  SCORPIONS CAN ALSO SURVIVE UNDERWATER FOR UP TO 2 DAYS.

D:  AND, I’M NOT EXACTLY SURE WHY WE KNOW THIS, BUT SCORPIONS CAN EVEN SURVIVE IN A FREEZER.  SCIENTISTS HAVE PUT SCORPIONS IN THE FREEZER BEFORE, JUST TO TAKE THEM OUT, WATCH THEM THAW OUT, AND START CRAWLING AWAY LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED.        

O:  SCORPIONS ARE NOCTURNAL, MEANING THAT THEY REST DURING THE DAY AND THEY ARE ACTIVE AT NIGHT.

D:  STAY AWAY FROM MY SNEAKERS, SCORPIONS.  SCORPIONS HAVE BEEN ON EARTH FOR MORE THAN 400 MILLION YEARS.  THAT MEANS THAT THEY WERE AROUND BEFORE DINOSAURS.  A LONG TIME AGO, SCORPIONS WERE ABOUT TWICE THE SIZE THEY ARE TODAY… YUCK!

O:  JAMES WANTED TO KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE STUNG BY SCORPIONS EVERY YEAR?

D:  IT’S A BIG NUMBER… 1.2 MILLION PEOPLE.  THANKFULLY, MOST SCORPION STINGS WON’T DO MUCH MORE THAN HURT FOR A BIT.  THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS THOUGH.  SOME SCORPIONS ARE MORE VENOMOUS THAN OTHERS AND THERE ARE SOME PLACES THAT ARE LESS PREPARED TO DEAL WITH SCORPION STINGS THAN OTHERS.  MOST PLACES THAT HAVE LOTS OF SCORPIONS ROAMING AROUND KNOW JUST WHAT TO DO IF SOMEONE GETS STUNG.  

O:  SCORPIONS GIVE BIRTH TO DOZENS OF BABIES AT ONCE. 

D:  AND, THOSE BABIES ARE BORN LIVE, MEANING THAT THEY DON’T HATCH FROM EGGS.  NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THE NEWBORN SCORPION BABIES WILL CRAWL ONTO THEIR MOTHER’S BACK FOR PROTECTION UNTIL THEIR EXOSKELETONS STIFFEN UP AND THEY ARE ABLE TO PROTECT THEMSELVES.  THAT USUALLY HAPPENS ABOUT 2 OR 3 WEEKS AFTER BIRTH.  ALRIGHT OLIVIA, THIS WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.  WHAT IS THE NAME FOR BABY SCORPIONS?

O:  BABY SCORPIONS ARE CALLED SCORPLINGS.  

D:  I’M REALLY NOT SURE IF THAT’S CUTE OR TERRIFYING.  I CAN’T DECIDE.  WELL, THAT’S A WRAP FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

O:  133 - SCORPIONS.

D:  GREAT JOB, OLIVIA, AND GREAT JOB TO MASON, MIA, AND JAMES FOR THE AWESOME TOPIC SUGGESTION.  IS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THAT WE HAVEN’T COVERED YET?  IF SO, THERE ARE A FEW GREAT WAYS TO LET US KNOW, SO THAT WE CAN GIVE YOU A SHOUTOUT ON CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  YOU CAN SEND US AN E-MAIL TO CURIOUSKIDPODCAST@GMAIL.COM OR YOU CAN LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL AT 856-425-2324.  IF YOU LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL, YOU COULD HEAR YOUR VOICE IN AN UPCOMING EPISODE.  NEXT WEEK, WE’VE GOT ANOTHER DOUBLE-MAILBAG.  WE ARE GOING TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT THE TITANIC FOR LISTENERS IN NEW JERSEY AND TENNESSEE.  AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING AND GETTING CURIOUS WITH US.