Scorpions Swarm Kalahari in Freeding Frenzy

January 9, 2003
By Peter Dickson

It was a dark and stormy night - and for tens of thousands of Kalahari scorpions, it was party time.

"They were everywhere," says German research biologist Professor Ann Rasa of the unprecedented night of December 23 when the desert, home to the biggest concentration of scorpions in the world, came alive under her feet.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before," she said on Wednesday.

"It was as if the whole scorpion population of the Kalahari suddenly said to themselves, 'Tonight's the night!'"

'It was a moonless night, there was a strong, cool, southerly wind blowing'

Rasa, based on a farm near the remote desert town of Groot Mier south of the Kalahari Transfrontier Park that straddles the border between the Northern Cape and Botswana, said the feeding frenzy lasted 45 minutes before the feared creatures headed back to their holes.

Rasa said: "Every desert has its animal and the Kalahari is the desert of the scorpion. It is home to most in the world and the night of December 23 was ideal scorpion weather.

"All the factors for scorpions, which are very weather-dependent and appear to be sensitive to barometric pressure, were present.

"It was a moonless night, there was a strong, cool, southerly wind blowing, it was raining and the air was thick with the flying brown beetles and termites they prey on after picking up their vibrations.

"There were scorpions everywhere, all over the ground wherever you looked and climbing the walls.

'Even the campers abandoned their tents and slept in their cars that night'

"They are fluorescent in the dark, a neon yellow-green colour, and I counted 114 black ones alone in the 100 metres between my home and the guest house.

"That was when I started running, closing all the doors and all the windows.

"Even the campers abandoned their tents and slept in their cars that night."

Rasa added that the area has only recently seen the introduction of electricity. The new lights had attracted the termites and beetles, which are usually drawn to moonlight, and provided an added bonus amid the ideal scorpion weather.

"They were only active for three quarters of an hour while the rain lasted," Rasa said. "Then they went back to their holes."

At the nearest clinic in Rietfontein, 45 kilometres away, Sister Magrietha Vilander told Sapa that an "exceptionally high number" of local residents suffering from scorpion stings since November and had to be transferred to hospital in Upington. Now there's a sting in the tail.

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