Size: Length; 15-20cm. Weight; 30-50g.

Habitat and Distribution: Tropical rainforests and open savannah in Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria).

Age: Up to 8 years.

Groups and Breeding: Emperor Scorpions reach sexual maturity around the age of four, although in captivity it has been reached at the age of one. The male and female have an elaborate mating dance where the male holds the female’s pincers and manoeuvres her to a suitable place where he then deposits a spermatophore and the female receives it to fertilise her eggs. The gestation period is 7-9 months. The young grow inside the mother and are born alive, with a litter size from 9 to 32 young. The young are white at first but become darker after each moult.

Diet: Insects, arachnids, mice and lizards.

• Their sting isn’t poisonous to healthy humans at all. Instead it is just mildly painful, a bit like a bee sting.
• Newly born scorpions are white at first but become darker after each moult.
• There are over 12000 different species of scorpion worldwide!
• Once the young emerge from their mother’s body, they climb on to her back and remain there for 1 - 2 weeks. They immediately disperse as otherwise the mother may consider them a meal!
• Scorpions detect their prey using fine sensory hairs covering their pincers and their tail.
• The Emperor Scorpion glows a bright green/blue colour when placed under UV lights.