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Sticker of Yellow fat-tailed scorpion
Bug card No. 1485 of 1,500

Yellow fat-tailed scorpion

Androctonus australis
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsScorpions, ticks and friendsDeserts and dry places8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The yellow fat-tailed scorpion is a tough desert scorpion from North Africa.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
The deserts and dry places of North Africa
Length
10 cm (3.9 in)
Top speed
about 2.6 km/h (1.6 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Dangerous: look, do not touch

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
At night it hunts insects, small lizards and even small mammals.
For real!Photo of Yellow fat-tailed scorpion
Picture by HTO. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Yellow fat-tailed scorpion about 10 cm long (3.9 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 3 toy building bricks in a rowabout as long as your handcould run across a dinner table in 1.4 seconds

How big is Yellow fat-tailed scorpion compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Most desert animals dig a burrow to hide from sandstorms, but this scorpion does not need to. Sand that can scrub paint off metal does not harm it.

2

Its armour is covered in tiny bumps. Scientists are studying them to make tougher surfaces for planes and helicopters.

3

It hides in dark, damp places during the day and comes out at night to hunt.

4

It can grow up to 10 centimetres long.

you asked

Most asked questions about Yellow fat-tailed scorpion

?Where does the yellow fat-tailed scorpion live?

In the deserts and dry places of North Africa.

?What does the yellow fat-tailed scorpion eat?

Insects, small lizards and sometimes small mammals, which it hunts at night.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Androctonus australis
Group
Scorpions, ticks and friends
Family
Buthidae
Classification
Arachnida > Scorpiones > Buthidae
Lives on
Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Androctonus australis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by HTO. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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