(crackly footsteps)
- John there's a hairy scorpion
right on the edge of that pipe.
See how they glow?
Hunkered down in ambush mode.
Oh, now it's on the move.
Oh, it's so nerve-racking to pick up one of these arachnids.
(movie film clicking)
(wild cat roaring)
(wild adventurous music)
(photo sizzling)
When I was a kid, nothing was more terrifying
than a scorpion.
Armed with menacing pinchers,
capable of skittering up walls,
and topped off with a venomous stinger,
these eight-legged arachnids were textbook examples
of a living nightmare.
♪ I've seen things you breathe ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
As an adult, I forced myself to face the fear of scorpions
by being intentionally stung by one in 2014.
Ah!
Then in 2017, for some crazy reason,
I decided to do it again with two scorpions.
Ah, wowsa.
Why in the world would anyone want to be stung by scorpions?
Ooh.
The only justifiable answer
is that I love to entertain and educate the Coyote Pack.
Man, my finger's burnin'.
- [John] You okay?
- Yeah.
Tonight we are back in Arizona,
the scorpion Capitol of the Southwest.
And I'm carefully rummaging around in the debris
that surrounds an abandoned goldmine.
This is the perfect setting
to find a variety of invertebrate nightmares.
But when it comes to finding scorpions,
nothing is more helpful than the right flashlight.
So, a normal flashlight is perfect for seeing things
like Gila monsters, snakes and tarantulas.
But when it comes to finding scorpions,
the best tool that you can use is a black light.
(flashlight clicking)
That coloration will cause these arachnids to luminesce.
And all of this wood is the perfect spot for us to search
for that creepy crawly.
Flipping over all these old crates,
is gonna be quite the challenge.
Let's see what we can find.
Aside from using the right light,
the only thing you need is a little patience,
and then before you know it,
a scorpion will magically appear.
Oh right there, look at that.
John, there's a hairy scorpion
right on the edge of that pipe.
See how they glow?
Luminescing
That is perfect.
You just turn a corner like that,
and probably the last thing most people wanna see
is a giant desert hairy scorpion,
but that is exactly what we were looking for.
Hunkered down in ambush mode.
Oh, now it's on the move.
This is not a species that has a super toxic sting.
It's about equivalent to a honeybee.
And I can pick this up with my fingers,
but I wanna get it right where the telson
meets that first knuckle of the tail.
It is a delicate little balance,
and ooh, you stop right there.
And I know we get stung in the process.
Let's see, stay, stay.
Oh he's gettin' into strike mode.
Okay oh, it's so nerve wracking
to pick up one of these arachnids,
even though I know that it's not a super potent sting.
Okay, I'm gonna actually just use
these little pieces of plant
to pin it down slightly.
Keep that like that.
And sometimes you just have to commit.
Got it.
Ahh!
So the pinchers won't do you much harm.
It's really just that stinger
that you have to watch out for.
But it's such a cool thing,
the way that they luminesce.
Check that out, just glowing bright yellowish-green.
That's why I said using this light
to identify these scorpions is so obvious.
The second you see a scorpion glowing like that,
you know exactly what it is.
But when it's just out there on the ground like this,
it's completely camouflaged.
And with a normal flashlight,
you would barely even be able to tell
that that creature was there.
So cool.
The body's actually very, very rigid.
You may think that the scorpion is squishy,
but this exoskeleton is very, very hard.
So by holding it at this spot right here,
where the tail meets the telson.
The telson is where all the venom is kept,
that runs into the stinger.
It is causing this animal no discomfort
in any way whatsoever.
In fact, you have to really stomp down
on something like this with a boot
to even stand a chance of crushing it.
Very, very durable animal.
These scorpions are feasting on a variety of small insects,
other arachnoids.
They have these front pinchers,
which they used to grab onto their prey.
And then they will swing that stinger forward,
and inflict a sting, inject that venom.
And that's how they neutralize their prey.
And they do get bigger than this.
And a larger giant desert hairy
will even take things like small rodents.
Now, there are three very distinct scorpion species
that are here in the Southwest.
The giant desert hairy, which is the largest.
The striped-tailed scorpion, which is rather small.
And then the bark scorpion.
The bark scorpion is the most potent,
and a sting from that scorpion will,
without question, put you in the hospital.
On a scale of one to five, when it comes to potency
of this potentially dangerous desert dweller,
I would only rank the giant desert hairy as a two.
While it is a painful sting,
it is not something that's going to kill you.
The bark scorpion on the other hand, would rank as a five.
It is one of the most painful and most dangerous stings
that's out here in the Southwest.
What a cool creature.
All right, let's set this scorpion back down into the sand.
I'll light it up and let it go.
Here we go, ready?
One, two, three, thanks buddy.
For the most part, these arachnids want to be left alone.
And unless you try to interact with them,
it's unlikely that you will ever feel the wrath
of their sting.
Personally, scorpions will always give me the willies.
And while I dread the idea of one hiding in my bedsheets,
they do work as an excellent ecosystem balancer,
doing their best to catch, sting,
and eat a wide variety of pest insects.
Scorpions.
You don't want to live with them,
but you have to admit, they are pretty cool creatures.
And to celebrate their glowing magnificence,
we felt this episode deserved
a one-minute scorpion nightclub remix video
called, Scorpion City.
You can thank us in the comments section below.
(eerie, adventurous music)
♪ Scorpion City ♪
♪ Exoskeleton ♪
♪ A tail and a telson ♪
♪ Scorpion City ♪
♪ Exoskeleton ♪
♪ A tail and a telson ♪
♪ Scorpion City ♪
♪ Black light night ♪
♪ Black light night light ♪
♪ Don't get stung ♪
♪ Scorpion City ♪
Hey, Coyote Pack,
if you think scorpions are creepy,
then I'm willing to bet
that the idea of a black widow crawling up and down my arms
is going to make your skin crawl.
Make sure to go back and check out this episode.
And don't forget, subscribe, and join memberships,
so you can brave alongside me and the crew
on our next wild adventure.
Now I would never, ever recommend that somebody
try to hold on to a spider like this.
(wild animal roaring)
(animal howling)