Scorpions of Cyprus
Lift a stone on a warm Cypriot evening – on a sun-baked hillside in Troodos, along a dry riverbed in Paphos, or among the pine roots of the Kyrenia mountains – and you may find yourself staring at one of the island's most ancient residents. Eight legs, two grasping claws, a tail arched overhead like a question mark. A scorpion. It hasn't moved. It doesn't need to. It has been doing this for four hundred and thirty million years, and it knows perfectly well who should be afraid of whom. Lords of the Stone and Shadow Scorpions belong to the class Arachnida – the same grand family as spiders, mites, and ticks. But the scorpion stands apart. With its unmistakable silhouette – that raised, segmented tail tipped with a venomous stinger – it is one of the most recognised animals on the planet, and one of the most misunderstood. They are predators, hunting at night by feel and vibration rather than sight. They are also extraordinary survivors, capable of slowing their metabolism almost to a standstill during extreme heat or drought, then springing back to life as though nothing happened. Worldwide, around 2,500 species have been described. Cyprus is home to a small but fascinating cast of characters – and two of them are found nowhere else on Earth. Before…
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