About 1.5 million people a year are stung by scorpions, most of them in the Americas, the Middle East, India and Africa, resulting in 2,600 deaths.
What’s the deadliest scorpion in the world?
Only about 50 of the 2,000-plus species of scorpion are dangerous to humans. Most of the deadliest ones, such as the yellow fat-tailed scorpion, the deathstalker (both native to North Africa and the Middle East) and the Indian red scorpion, belong to the Buthid family.
The complex cocktail of neurotoxins in the deathstalker’s venom, which produces powerful effects at low doses, is especially potent. If you are stung by one it causes paralysis, an inability to move or feel part of the body. An anti-venom is available.
The venom is particularly useful for catching prey as within seconds of being sung the prey is immobilised or dead.