Scorpions

Dominick · November 23, 2018, 08:04:16 PM

I found this article fascinating. We are all outdoors persons. Mother nature shows her genius again and again. Dominick

https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Bay-Area-scientist-stung-by-public-s-perception-13415233.php?t=163dfa3f8b&utm_campaign=email-desktop&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social

Keta · November 23, 2018, 08:37:30 PM

We have them up here too and I've had several for "pets".

festus · November 23, 2018, 08:46:41 PM

We used to average maybe 3 or 4 scorpions per year inside our house, but it's been a few years since I've seen one indoors or outdoors. I've heard some of the local old timers call them "shoe waspers."

MarkT · November 23, 2018, 08:56:48 PM

They craft their toxin based on their target. How about that!

Dominick · November 23, 2018, 09:50:47 PM

Quote from: MarkT on November 23, 2018, 08:56:48 PM
They craft their toxin based on their target. How about that!

Yes, wow, that is what impressed me the most of the article. Also the tumor experiment. We keep unlocking mother nature's secrets, then what? Something to think about... Dominick

jurelometer · November 23, 2018, 10:07:51 PM

Quote from: MarkT on November 23, 2018, 08:56:48 PM
They craft their toxin based on their target. How about that!

I thought that the article had to be wrong, that what the scientists meant was that the scorpions adapt over generations. But it turns out that when exposed to simulated predators in a lab, scorpions would adjust the venom blend accordingly over a period of several weeks. Amazing!

Here's the paper describing this relatively recent discovery (http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1863/20171364)

Also from the same paper:

"Spiders, for instance, may evaluate venom resistance in prey based on olfactory cues and use their venom accordingly".

Good find Dominick!

conchydong · November 24, 2018, 01:28:55 AM

I don't know what species we have in Florida but when I was still living in Key West, I stuck my hand in a bag of previously opened charcoal to throw a few briquettes in the hibachi and I got stung by one and it was way more painful then a bee/wasp sting. My finger swelled up twice it's size and it was pretty brutal. Not something I would like to happen again if I can help it. I don't like Scorpions or Spiders yet I can deal with Snakes.

1badf350 · November 24, 2018, 01:34:14 AM

I love their song "Rock You Like A Hurricane"

philaroman · November 24, 2018, 01:55:17 AM

my favorite scorpion doesn't sting... or, backlash: Scorpion Metanium XT

MarkT · November 24, 2018, 02:02:26 AM

I don't have a problem with snakes. I've caught many of them. Even rattlesnakes are kind of cool. I picked up a water moccasin by the tail once and dropped it before anything could happen. Copperheads are nasty.

I hate things with too many legs. I don't like spiders but those outside in the garden are ok as long as I don't walk into a web with one in it. I've caught grasshoppers and put them into the web of big orb spiders. Scorpions are kind of neat. I haven't seen any by my house but I have out in the desert. Millipedes are cute but I really hate those orange centipedes with the big fangs!

philaroman · November 24, 2018, 02:25:05 AM

after 3 X Lyme, it's the deer ticks that are my least favorite arachnid

Tiddlerbasher · November 24, 2018, 02:34:21 AM

Yep - hate em nasty little boogers. After a holiday in the Highlands of Scotland my wife came back with a tick on her belly

I removed it, of course - with a chuckle - she wasn't so impressed

philaroman · November 24, 2018, 02:43:50 AM

our "nasty little boogers" come w/ a bonus: an extra-nasty, incurable bacterial infection...
beware, in case it makes its way across the pond