Scorpion course

During the first week of November we as guides were privileged to attend a scorpion course conducted by the conservationist and scorpion expert Jonathan Leeming. For some of us it was more of a refresher having first done it about 15 years ago as an introduction. This time the audience was a combination of the Singita guides and our neighbours, the Gonarezhou field guides.

The theme was identification methods of the different species, as well as to try to add more species to the list of those species we had identified in the year 2010. It also involved ways to tell how medically important some of the species are, and the first aid to be applied in case of a sting.

These were the species identified in 2010:

Our search through the veld here at Malilangwe and in Gonarezhou resulted in us being rewarded by identifying three more species - two in the Uroplectes genus and one more in the Parabuthus genus.

They are:

During the course we managed to learn scorpion handling techniques of specimens that are less venomous, such as the flat rock scorpion. The venomosity rule of thumb for the highly venomous and weakly venomous are to look at how thick the tail is and how small the pincers are. Those with thick tails and small pincers are highly venomous, and those with bigger pincers and smaller tails are mildly venomous.

The venom of a single scorpion may include several different neurotoxins, and each is thought to perform a function targeting specific nerve cells. Scorpions use their venom for more than one purpose. The most obvious is prey capture, where scorpions with powerful pincers may simply crush their prey, those with weaker pincers grasp their prey and sting it several times until it is subdued. By using its venom a small scorpion can be ferocious and catch prey much larger than itself. Venom is also used as a defence mechanism against animals such as honey badgers which prey heavily on scorpions. However, some mammals in the evolutionary race are immune to scorpion stings.

Lectures done during the course also included first aid response that involved scene scenarios and possible species identification according to the environment one is in, as different species have different habitats.

During the evenings we would go out in the field to capture, identify and set traps for different species which we would then identify during the day before releasing them back to their environments.

The course was of paramount importance, taking our guiding skill to another level and learning how one can introduce the fascinating topic to guests and children on safari. After the course we all participated in an online exam which we all did very well in! The guiding department gives a great vote of appreciation to those that organised the course and a big thank you to our instructor Jonathan Leeming - his courses are always impactful and fun.