Scorpions are Master Architects: Creature's Burrow Provides Internal Temperature for Energy

Scorpions like to warm up before the chase. Now, Israeli scientists have discovered that before going on a hunt, these anthropods like to heat up on a special platform. 

Researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, investigated the burrows of wild Large-Clawed Scorpions in the Negev Desert of Israel. After researchers trapped the scoprions, they created replica casts of their burrows by simply filling them with molten aluminum. As the casts solidified, they were then dug out and analyzed via a 3D laser scanner with computer software.

Researchers found that instead of simple holes in the ground, the scorpions used a more sophisticated technique to create their burrows. For instance, each burrow began with a short, vertical entrance that flattened out a few centimeters below the surface into a horizontal platform.

Study authors believe that this helps to provide the creatures with a safe, warm place where they can increase their body temperature before they leave for a nightly hunt. As ectothermic animals, they often rely on energy from the environment to regulate their internal temperature.

As the burrows descent downward, the environment provides a cool and humid habitat for the creature to rest in during the day. Researchers said they believe that burrow building in scorpions has even evolved via natural selection to help the animal's psychological needs.

"Very little is known about burrow environments" said Dr Amanda Adams of the university, in a news release. "We plan to expand our studies to more scorpion species around the world to test how burrow structure is shaped to be part of the burrow builder's extended physiology." Understanding the relationship between environmental conditions and burrow structures, meanwhile, could help to predict how burrow-builders will respond to climate change.

Study findings are currently being presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting 2014, which is held at Manchester University in the UK, from July 1st-4th.