European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Dane of Lav and dam mating scorpions engage in along and violent Waltz locked together at the Mouth and front legs. The male repeatedly stings the female arts the female thrashes about. Sometimes the heavier female consumes her partner after mating. Chemical signals control each step of the elaborate ritual. / _. In Quot achieving fertilization close upon the locked position of Mouth parts and pincers during a kind of Massage that allows the male to position the female for sperm Transfer. Researchers speculate that the Massage May help suppress the aggressive tendencies of the female. Nytz just one gee Whiz fact after another by Natalie Angier. New York times to the ancient chinese snakes embodied both Good and evil but scorpions symbolized pure wickedness. 1 to the persians scorpions were the Devil s minions sent to destroy All life by attacking the Testicles of the sacred Bull whose blood should have fertilized the universe. In the old testament the hebrew King Reho Boam threatened to chastise his people not with Ordinary whips but with scorpions a dread scourges that sting like a scorpion s Tail. The greeks blamed a scorpion for killing Orion a Lusty giant and celebrated Hunter throughout history and across almost every cultural Boundary scorpions have had a Rotten reputation and As far As Gary a., Polis one of the leading authorities on the creatures is concerned they deserve it. Quot there s a Good reason Why humans Are terrified of scorpions Quot he said. A a they be caused a lot of deaths Over the . A. A and even those species whose venom is relatively innocuous he said can deliver stings that Quot feel like 10 1 flaming bullets rotating inside you All at  As though the description needed reinforcement he rammed his Finger against his Tiest and gave it a twist. J but polls an associate professor of biology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville  not a biblical doomsayers. A \ he is one of an elite and growing cadre of. Researchers in the United states and abroad which Are dedicating their careers a and braving nature s version of Uzi fire a to the study of the strange lives a violent nights and brutal loves of scorpions the nocturnal relatives of spiders and other members of the eight legged invertebrate family known As the a a a arachnids. V.-,Quot to. A. Long neglected in favor of spiders or their Distant six legged cousins the insects scorpions Are finally winning researchers attention and respect. T devotees say that while scorpions May be among the most ancient of terrestrial animals they have features that make them seem like the most modern of mammals. And Only lately have scientists realized How. Singular scorpions Are. A a it a a \. Quot we know a lot about insects and crustaceans but we re just beginning to find out about arachnids in general and scorpions in particular Quot said or. Phili Brownell a biologist at Oregon state University in Corvallis. Quot scorpions Are an extremely successful group of animals. They use All sorts of bizarre sensory systems to find their Way around the  Many of the details of the scorpions Peculiar traits and pastimes have been gathered into a new Book. The biology of scorpions edited by Polis and Quot Quot published by Stanford University. It is the first attempt to synthesize All that is known about the creatures and the portrait that emerges. Reads like the invertebrate edition of guinness scorpions Are some of the biggest meanest longest lived most sensitive most maternal least fraternal slowest quickest and certainly the most weirdly coloured creatures among the arachnids and  when Yog talk about scorpions you tend to use a lot of words like a the Only known example,1 a the first a a the largest a Quot said Polis. Quot it s just one gee Whiz fact after  a a  i a a Many of the new findings startle even old scorpion hands. Biologists from Frankfurt Germany for example have discovered that one of the largest a species of scorpion which is found on the Ivory coast of Africa is social to a degree unheard of among arachnids which normally Are solitary creatures males and females which can weigh almost 3 ounces apiece and measure up to eight inches in length live together and rear their Young for two years or . A Quot in caring for their offspring the adults will kill rodents frogs and other vertebrates strip the prey apart grind it up and feed the predigested Stew to their Young. But scorpions Are not always Model spouses and. Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes. Monday december 10,1990