Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Scorpion

Our Nature Study lesson this week was out of the ordinary and super fun- a Nature scavenger hunt! I copied off the page from the older girls’ notebooks and set out with Lindsey to help her find some of the items listed. Some examples of things we had to find were something that smelled, something older than you, something taller than you, something with wings, and something smaller than your thumb. Lindsey wasn’t really into it, and I was trying to grab her attention. I found a large decaying piece of bark on the ground and told the kids to gather near while I flipped it over barehanded. Immediately we saw a large red centipede scurry for cover as well as a Jerusalem cricket (yuck!). As we were closely observing the insects I noticed something else… a scorpion! And very near us. I pointed it out and we all took a respectful step back. Then, lo! four pale tan baby scorpions scuttled by. We were amazed. Natalie took off to the house to get Jon and a container. We kept two scorpions and the centipede for several days to study. No one was brave enough to hold the scorpions!

It’s difficult to see, but the baby scorpion is just behind the large scorpions’ tale. Behind the baby scorpion is a dead bug the girls put in the jar in hopes it would get eaten. In nature scorpions and centipedes often battle, but we saw no such action here. The scorpion’s body was about one inch long, not including it’s tail. The kids drew pictures of the scorpion and labeled it’s body parts. It’s in the arachnid family along with spiders and ticks. It’s common name is Western Woodland Scorpion. 

Here’s the young scorpion after we let him go. Upper portion of the screen, almost in the middle.