About 25 species are known to have venom capable of killing a human being.

Scorpions have variable lifespans that range from approximately 4–25 years. Unlike the majority of species in the class arachnid, scorpions seem to be universally viviparous (expelling live young). The young are born one by one after hatching and expelling the embryonic membrane, and the brood is carried about on its mother’s back until the young have undergone at least one molt.

Scorpions typically require between five and seven moults to reach maturity. Adults scorpions prefer to live in areas where the temperatures range from 68 to 99 °F finding shelter during the day in the relative cool of underground holes or undersides of rocks and coming out at night to hunt and feed.

Scorpions are opportunistic predators of small insects and arthropods, although the larger kinds have been known to kill small lizards and mice (Depending on the toxicity of their venom and size of their claws). Scorpions can consume huge amounts of food at one sitting. They have a very efficient food storage organ and a very low metabolic rate combined with a relatively inactive lifestyle. This enables scorpions to survive 6 to 12 months of starvation.