Scorpion

We know there are little critters in the desert. Sometimes they are seen on the hikes like the tarantula on the Hackberry Springs Hike last month. We have heard about scorpions, but I had yet to see one, until last week. 


Hubby was out hiking with the club at Pass Mountain.

The group heading out on an 8.1 mile loop around the mountain,

around 900' elevation. The group taking a break to check their GPSs and have a snack.


When he returned home he put his hiking equipment away and was going to work on a little project in the shed. He grabbed the little pail (about 3 quarts in size) holding his project and this surprise...

I grabbed the camera and took pictures of the scorpion.

 I watched it scuttle around in the pail. We have no idea how it got in the pail which was setting on top of the workbench, about 48" off the floor which is 8" off the ground. At least it wasn't in the house!

Then I did some research. There are around 1400 species of scorpions. They are arachnids with 8 legs, pincers on the front 'arms', a tail that curls over their back and a barb on the end of the tail that emits a poison to paralyze their prey. Only 25 of the 1400 have a bite or sting that would be harmful to humans. The dangerous one around here is the Arizona bark scorpion, a nocturnal arachnid. 

This fella would have delivered an irritating sting had hubby not seen it when he reached in the pail. It is not the poisonous AZ bark scorpion.