VIDEO: Up close and personal with scorpions
'Don't kill them, they're just looking for love.'
The first thing that pops into your head when thinking about a scorpion is definitely not that they’re looking for love.
Jonathan Leeming, a venomous animals expert from Randfontein took the Herald, children and their parents on a scorpion walk at the Kloofendal Nature Reserve in Roodepoort over the weekend.
Jonathan said scorpions you come across in your home are just males looking for love.
The scorpion walk is part of Kloofendal’s mandate to educate the community about nature. Jonathan said, “You need to learn how to react to animals in the correct way.”
Jonathan also pointed out how to know if the scorpion you come across is heavily venomous or less venomous.
“When you come across a scorpion with small pincers and a large tail, that is a venomous scorpion. If you come across one with large pincers and a small tail, it’s not as venomous.
If it was to sting you, you would feel localised pain but it should go away after like 15 minutes,” he said.
Jonathan explained that South Africa is, however, home to the 12th most venomous scorpions in the world. Of the different kind of scorpions found in the country, 28 are medically important and 20 are mildly venomous.
When his soothing introduction came to a close, young explorers and enthusiasts took to the Kloofendal hiking trail.
The first scorpion found was under a large rock and seemed to share it’s home with a Parktown prawn. The scorpion was putty in Jonathan’s hands and so in the hands of children who attended the walk. This tiny scorpion was found under a rather large rock.
The next scorpion which was found in a very specific location (between two rocks) was a bit bigger than the first. The children who got over their fear of scorpions took then on the task of looking for scorpions along with Jonathan.
The last scorpion hunt ended in finding a snake who slithered away at the sight of the walk’s crowd. All the scorpions found on the walk were returned to their shelters.
Click here for more photos.
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