#uropygi

Vinegaroon courtship rituals involve a dance that can last up to 12 hours of the female testing the male’s endurance. Males will also battle fiercely with each other for the chance to mate with females. Female vinegaroons invest a lot into their children, so they must be absolutely certain the male has good fitness. After mating, the female will seal herself inside her burrow and refuse to eat while she tends to her eggs, holding the eggsac under her abdomen and remaining motionless so that they do not touch the ground for the next few months. After the young hatch, they will climb onto their mother’s back and remain there until their first molt. After this, the babies will live with her in her burrow for a bit before their second molt. This can take up to a year to occur. In human care, the mother can be saved by feeding her during this time, but in the wild she will sometimes starve to death; expending all of her energy watching over her children. Females that survive child-rearing may live for another 2 years, but they will not mate again.

The African Whip Scorpion (Etienneus africanus) (image 4) is the only uropygid found in Africa, leading arachnologists to believe that it is a relict of Gondwana, the supercontinent that once included South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and India.

The Giant Whip Scorpion (Mastigoproctus giganteus) (image 1) is the largest uropygid, growing to be 40–60 millimetres (1.6–2.4 in) long, excluding the flagellum. They live in the southern US and Mexico, and are efficient predators of scorpions, sometimes even acquired as biocontrol for that purpose. The species is also sold in the pet trade, as they make a calm, non-venomous alternative arachnid to pet spiders or scorpions, though their vinegar-like spray can be irritating if it gets into eyes or cuts.

Vinegaroons spray a mixture of 85% acetic acid and 15% caprylic acid from the base of their whiplike flagellum. Acetic acid is one of the main ingredients in vinegar, giving the acidic spray its smell and vinegaroons their common name, though this spray is 15 times more concentrated than vinegar! They can accurately spray up to 12 inches in any direction, usually only when poked or prodded by a predator. They will spray the predator in the eyes, nostrils, or mouth, using the opportunity to run and hide while it’s distracted. Giant Whip Scorpions can spray up to 19 times before their store is depleted, and will be “recharged” by the next day. So as not to waste their supply of acid spray, they will give a warning by raising their abdomen, flagellum, and pedipalps in the air before spraying.

Their default pose is 👉👈 but sometimes it’s ❤️