Emperor Scorpion

The emperor scorpion is the scorpion most people have actually seen — the glossy black one used in films, kept as a pet, and pulled out for shock value on television. It is one of the largest scorpions alive, and one of the least dangerous.

Overview

Emperor scorpions live in the hot, humid forests and moist savannas of West and Central Africa, sheltering by day in burrows they dig or take over, under logs, and in termite mounds, and coming out at night to hunt. They need high humidity and warmth, and they are unusually tolerant of one another — several may share a burrow, and mothers stay with their broods, which is rare among scorpions.

Physical characteristics

A big emperor scorpion is 15–20 cm long, jet black, with a heavy body, a segmented tail ending in a bulbous venom gland and stinger, and — its most striking feature — a pair of enormous pincers (pedipalps). Those pincers, not the sting, are the animal’s main weapon: an emperor scorpion catches, crushes, and holds prey with them, and only uses venom on anything that struggles hard.

There is a rough rule with scorpions: big pincers and a thin tail mean a mild sting and a reliance on brute force; small pincers and a thick tail mean potent venom. The emperor is firmly in the first camp.

Like every scorpion, its exoskeleton fluoresces a vivid blue-green under ultraviolet light.

Senses and hunting

Scorpions have poor eyesight. The emperor navigates and hunts almost entirely by touch and vibration, using fine sensory hairs on the pincers and legs and a pair of comb-like organs on the underside of the body, the pectines, which sweep the ground to detect texture, chemicals, and the tremors of moving prey. It waits at the mouth of its burrow or forages slowly, seizing crickets, beetles, spiders, other scorpions, and occasionally small lizards and mice.

Reproduction

Courtship is a slow “dance,” the male gripping the female’s pincers and steering her over a packet of sperm he deposits on the ground. Months later she gives birth to a live brood of soft, white young, which climb onto her back and ride there, absorbing yolk and moisture, until their first moult hardens their shells and darkens them. Only then do they disperse.

Conservation

The emperor scorpion is listed as Least Concern. Its main pressure is the pet trade — decades ago, huge numbers were collected from the wild, particularly in Ghana and Togo, prompting the species’ inclusion on CITES Appendix II to regulate exports. Captive breeding now supplies much of the demand. Local habitat loss to farming and logging is the other concern, but across its range the emperor scorpion remains a common and adaptable animal.