We were just in Gothenburg last weekend for Nathan's hockey tournament, and we went to a very cool place called Universeum, which is sort of a hybrid of an aquarium/terrarium/zoo/science museum.
Inside is a multi-floor rainforest section you can walk through. And on one of the floors, there's a pitch black box covered with glass, with two holes inside and two shining red buttons behind them. It says "Press a button to see animals who are mostly active at night" (or something like that). It's really hard to see inside, but when you squint, you can tell that by one of the buttons there's a scorpion, and by another one there's a tarantula.
My family refused to try and touch the buttons, so of course being the brave man I am, I ended up doing it. When you press the button, the entire box lights up for a few seconds, and it becomes clear that....all the animals inside are just rubber toys.
(Also, I figured that last part out before touching the red button. Ain't no way I'm putting my hand next to a living scorpion.)
There could be a whole Substack (sub-substack, sexstack) on Animal Sex methinks. Fascinating business. Depositing their load for the dame to pick up. He's a sperm donor and they don't have to make contact! This might be verboten in some red states.
I saw two scorpions in person in my native Venezuela. One in the garden, and the other, I was coming out of the shower barefooted so I started screaming like a mental case and climbed on a chair. My dad came and killed it because it was one of the poisonous ones.
I thought the females would kill the males after mating, but I think that's only the Mantises who do that.
Also, in fairness, they kind of look like how I imagined aliens to look as a kid. This was only confirmed when I saw Aliens for the first time around 1986.
They look very scary. The first one I saw was a yellow, small one. It didn't look like much. But the second one was half yellow, half black and it was around 3 inches long. That, when you're coming barefooted out of the shower, is quite scary!! hahaha
I went to see one of the alien movies around that time and in the line to get out of the parking, this huge spider came out of the space between the dash and the windshield, and having watched two hours of creepy monsters, I almost had a heart attack. I got out of the car, took my shoe off and started hitting that thing as if it was the devil!!
Once while living in Austin Texas, right after my husband had come home from the hospital post leg amputation, he was in the shower. Suddenly, he started yelling for me and hopping up and down on his one foot. There was a scorpion in the bottom of the damn shower stall. First and only time seeing one that wasn't in a terrarium.
Yeah your post lit that up in a remote corner of my brain. I read and loved the short story which was both a Hugo and Nebula winner and was disappointed in the movie years later
Yes, people were always being stung where I grew up. The teeny tiny ones are the most dangerous. A funny story when I first started to date my now-husband we went to see my parents. Middle of the night scorpion in the bathroom. He didn’t know what to do so he sprayed shaving cream on it. Then my mother heard his yell, came in, and killed it with her shoe. (Don’t lecture me please. Kids were small, and we were not close to a hospital.)
Two nights later, he had to deal with a tarantula. Now he was brave and swooped it up in a blanket and tossed it out the window.
Sea scorpions are another amazing story of evolution.
This was literally next to the jungle. In Mexico. But it is not that scary, surprisingly. Not like Australia with their funnel webs and red backs and white tails and all the other deadly things there.
We do love where there are scorpions.. luckily I don’t see them very often, although the last time one was in the house, I did a catch and release. They are really cool looking
Never seen one in person. Hope to never see one in person!
Have you ever dig into Carl Woese’s three domain system? I’d love to read about your take if you have. And if not, maybe it could be an idea for you to explore…
It's interesting that some critters evolved quicky to a point and then remained static for millions of years.
Sharks too, although it seems like the modern "shark" is *only* like 150 million years old.
Not enough poop. Three stars.
We were just in Gothenburg last weekend for Nathan's hockey tournament, and we went to a very cool place called Universeum, which is sort of a hybrid of an aquarium/terrarium/zoo/science museum.
Inside is a multi-floor rainforest section you can walk through. And on one of the floors, there's a pitch black box covered with glass, with two holes inside and two shining red buttons behind them. It says "Press a button to see animals who are mostly active at night" (or something like that). It's really hard to see inside, but when you squint, you can tell that by one of the buttons there's a scorpion, and by another one there's a tarantula.
My family refused to try and touch the buttons, so of course being the brave man I am, I ended up doing it. When you press the button, the entire box lights up for a few seconds, and it becomes clear that....all the animals inside are just rubber toys.
(Also, I figured that last part out before touching the red button. Ain't no way I'm putting my hand next to a living scorpion.)
Rubber Scorpion is actually a pretty cool band name, but I'm not gonna call that one.
Talk about evolution doing it right. 430 million years ago “Yup, this is perfect. My work here is done.”
There could be a whole Substack (sub-substack, sexstack) on Animal Sex methinks. Fascinating business. Depositing their load for the dame to pick up. He's a sperm donor and they don't have to make contact! This might be verboten in some red states.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk
the best! god gets quite irate!
I saw two scorpions in person in my native Venezuela. One in the garden, and the other, I was coming out of the shower barefooted so I started screaming like a mental case and climbed on a chair. My dad came and killed it because it was one of the poisonous ones.
I thought the females would kill the males after mating, but I think that's only the Mantises who do that.
Anyway, very interesting article. Loved it!
That's awesome! I mean, traumatic for sure - I am pretty sure I would have screamed and climbed onto a chair, or worse!
It's funny how something so small can give us such a fright! 🤣
Also, in fairness, they kind of look like how I imagined aliens to look as a kid. This was only confirmed when I saw Aliens for the first time around 1986.
They look very scary. The first one I saw was a yellow, small one. It didn't look like much. But the second one was half yellow, half black and it was around 3 inches long. That, when you're coming barefooted out of the shower, is quite scary!! hahaha
I went to see one of the alien movies around that time and in the line to get out of the parking, this huge spider came out of the space between the dash and the windshield, and having watched two hours of creepy monsters, I almost had a heart attack. I got out of the car, took my shoe off and started hitting that thing as if it was the devil!!
HR Giger made some incredible aliens, didn't he?
TOTALLY! Terrifying!!
Awesome.
Once while living in Austin Texas, right after my husband had come home from the hospital post leg amputation, he was in the shower. Suddenly, he started yelling for me and hopping up and down on his one foot. There was a scorpion in the bottom of the damn shower stall. First and only time seeing one that wasn't in a terrarium.
Holy crap! That is NOT the time you want to see a scorpion!
No kidding, right?!? It was so crazy!
Remember the book and movie Enemy Mine? Alien was scorpion hermaphrodite
Oh wow. That's one where i would see the VHS tape cover and recognize it instantly, but I'm not sure I ever saw it.
Yeah your post lit that up in a remote corner of my brain. I read and loved the short story which was both a Hugo and Nebula winner and was disappointed in the movie years later
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_Mine_(novella)
Yet another classic 80s example of a film that could not live up to the writing!
Yes, people were always being stung where I grew up. The teeny tiny ones are the most dangerous. A funny story when I first started to date my now-husband we went to see my parents. Middle of the night scorpion in the bathroom. He didn’t know what to do so he sprayed shaving cream on it. Then my mother heard his yell, came in, and killed it with her shoe. (Don’t lecture me please. Kids were small, and we were not close to a hospital.)
Two nights later, he had to deal with a tarantula. Now he was brave and swooped it up in a blanket and tossed it out the window.
Sea scorpions are another amazing story of evolution.
Yikes! I would kill that scorpion, too.
Sea scorpions are amazing.
Where do you live? I need to mark that location on my “never visit in person because I could die by scary wildlife” map. 🫣🕷️🦂
This was literally next to the jungle. In Mexico. But it is not that scary, surprisingly. Not like Australia with their funnel webs and red backs and white tails and all the other deadly things there.
Yep, sorry, Aussie, probably never gonna visit 🤣 and I tend to steer clear of jungles. In general…
In case y'all didn't see this one, you will probably appreciate it: https://goatfury.substack.com/p/virtually-harmless-by-australian
We do love where there are scorpions.. luckily I don’t see them very often, although the last time one was in the house, I did a catch and release. They are really cool looking
Wow! Where do you live?
In the Virgin Islands
Bravo. I’ve come away with more questions than answers. But, that’s the good news.
More good news: I will not ask what the bad news was.
Never seen one in person. Hope to never see one in person!
Have you ever dig into Carl Woese’s three domain system? I’d love to read about your take if you have. And if not, maybe it could be an idea for you to explore…