One of the biggest
At up to twenty centimetres, it is among the largest scorpions in the world.
The savanna · Spiders and scorpions
Emperor scorpion
Pandinus imperator
A huge, glossy black scorpion with heavy pincers and a tail curved over its back.
- Size
- Up to 20cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Forest floor and savanna in West Africa, in burrows and termite mounds
Stalks after you, pincers out. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Emperor scorpion
Good to know
Six things about the emperor scorpion
It glows under ultraviolet
Shine an ultraviolet torch on it and it glows blue-green. Nobody is certain why.
Claws first
It kills most of its prey with its big pincers. The sting is used mainly on things that fight back.
A mild sting
For most people its sting is like a bee's. The scorpions to fear have thin pincers and fat tails.
Babies ride on her back
The young are born alive, and climb on to their mother's back until their first moult.
It feels you coming
Fine hairs on its pincers and tail pick up the smallest movement of the air.
The real thing
Photos of the emperor scorpion
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Scorpions come out after dark. People who study them walk slowly with an ultraviolet torch and look for the glow.
How to help
So many were taken for the pet trade that trade in emperor scorpions is now controlled by international law.
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