Bug of the Week - Walt’s Favorite Shrimp
Meet Walt’s Favorite Shrimp! She’s an Asian forest scorpion. Like other scorpions, she has two pincers and a venomous stinger that she uses to catch bugs to eat. She’s less excited about food than our tarantulas, but she’s still a fierce hunter.
Scorpions are arachnids, meaning they have eight legs just like spiders. Some scorpions are dangerous to people, but Walt’s Favorite Shrimp is harmless and doesn’t like to sting. Make sure to never touch a scorpion you find in the wild!
Asian forest scorpions come from the jungles of Southeast Asia. They’re one of the biggest kinds of scorpion, growing to about 4 or 5 inches long.
One cool thing about scorpions is that they fluoresce under UV light. This means that our scorpions glow when we shine a special flashlight on them.
No one knows why scorpions glow like this. There are lots of things we still have to learn about the world of bugs!
You can meet Walt’s Favorite Shrimp and see her glow at one of our bug parties for kids!
