【转译】黄尾四孔蝎Tetratrichobothrius flavicaudis产地记录及饲养启示（下）

首先是上篇一些关于蝎子普遍适用的一些段落，在此补全：

During the day these nocturnal scorpions can be almost impossible to find as they hide themselves away in the smallest of gaps and cracks in the rocks and bricks that they make their home. However, on very rare occasions some specimens have been seen active during the day, which is fairly uncommon for scorpions of most species, apart from forest-dwelling scorpions.

在白天，这些夜间活动的蝎子几乎不可能被发现，因为它们把自己藏在它们筑巢的岩石和砖块的最小的缝隙中。但一些很偶然的情况下，人们看到一些个体白天也很活跃，这对于大多数种类的蝎子来说相当罕见，除了雨林蝎。

Scorpions are easiest to find once they become active at night, usually an hour or two after the sun has set. Under a UV lamp scorpions glow bright turquoise, making them much easier to spot, whether climbing the walls or hiding in rock crevices. It is not understood exactly how scorpions could benefit from glowing under UV light but it is known that the fluorescence is caused by the accumulation of a chemical called beta-carboline in the exoskeleton, which glows under UV light. One theory is that this florescence may help to shield scorpions from harmful UV rays emitted by the sun by converting UV light into harmless visible light. Other possible theories include: the emitted glow from UV light could attract moths and other insects that scorpions prey upon, or the glow could help male scorpions looking for potential female mates. Other scientists believe that the florescence may be purely by chance of evolution and have no significant purpose at all.

在晚上，一般是太阳落山后的1-2小时，蝎子一旦活跃起来就很容易被发现。在紫外线灯的照射下，蝎子会发出明亮的蓝绿色，这让他们无论是在墙上爬还是藏在石缝里都更容易被找到。目前人们还不清楚地了解紫外线灯是怎样让蝎子受益的，但是人们知道是一种在蝎子外骨骼中累积的叫做β-carboline的化学物质在紫外光下会发光。一种理论认为，这种荧光能将紫外光转化为无害的可见光，从而使蝎子免受太阳发出的有害紫外线的伤害。其他的理论还有：紫外线照射发出的光可以让蝎子捕食被吸引的飞蛾和其他昆虫，或者这种光可以帮雄蝎子找到可能的雌性伴侣。另一些科学家认为荧光只是单纯的进化中的偶然现象，完全没有重要意义。

Scorpions are not the only invertebrates that glow under UV light though. The Ecuadorian Harvestmen (Eucynorta sp., Cosmetidae) is one such example of another invertebrate that fluoresces when exposed to UV light.

蝎子并不是唯一一种在紫外线下发光的无脊椎动物。Ecuadorian盲蛛 (Eucynorta sp., Cosmetidae)是另一种暴露在紫外线下会发光的无脊椎动物的例子。

As scorpions grow they periodically shed their hard exoskeleton in one complete shell. The few hours following a shed of the old exoskeleton is quite a dangerous time for the scorpion until the new soft shell hardens up. The old discarded shell still glows under UV light however the new shell will not glow immediately but the fluorescence slowly returns as the scorpion ages and the beta-carboline begins to build up in the new exoskeleton once again.

随着长大，蝎子会周期性地完整地脱落坚硬的外骨骼外壳。蜕皮后直到新的软壳变硬的几个小时对蝎子来说是相当危险的。旧的被丢弃的外壳在紫外线下仍然会发光，而新外壳不会立即发光，但随着蝎子年龄的增长，荧光会慢慢恢复，β-carboline再次开始在新的外骨骼中累积。

Scorpions are not insects, but they are classed along with spiders and harvestmen as arachnids. They are very basic creatures and early fossil records show that scorpions have been on the earth for over 400 million years! Early Sea Scorpions, that could have been as long as 2.5 metres, were capable of walking on land as well as living beneath the water, like modern crabs. There is even consideration over whether these ancient scorpions may have been one of the first creatures to leave the sea and begin living a terrestrial existence.

蝎子不属于昆虫，但它们与蜘蛛和盲蛛一起被归为蛛形纲动物。它们是非常古老的生物，早期的化石记录表明蝎子已经在地球上生活了4亿多年！早期的海蝎子可能长达2.5米，它们既能在陆地上行走，也能像现代的螃蟹一样生活在水下。人们甚至还在考虑这些远古蝎子会不会可能是最早离开海洋并开始在陆地上生活的生物之一。

Despite the dangerous reputation that scorpions have, due to their venomous sting, out of the 2200+ species of scorpion found throughout the world it is thought that only about 104 species are considered to be any real threat to healthy adult humans if stung. Scorpions are one of the most resilient creatures on the earth. They are capable of surviving fairly low temperatures and extremely hot temperatures, such as those experienced in dessert environments. During US nuclear testing, both scorpions and cockroaches were found surviving near ground zero showing no adverse effects from the radiation. One species of scorpion, Orobothriurus crassimanus, has been recorded at an altitude of 5550 metres above sea level where oxygen levels are very low and many creatures could not survive. Scorpions are also one of the species of terrestrial life-forms that usually survives flooding. Tests have shown that many species of scorpion can survive being submerged in water for several hours, due to their ability to slow their metabolism down, enabling them to retain sufficient oxygen supplies in their body. Some scorpions can last indefinitely without water and obtain the necessary fluids to survive purely from their occasional prey.

尽管蝎子由于它们的毒刺有着危险的名声，但在世界各地发现的2200多种蝎子中，只有大约104种被认为如果它们蜇人，是能对健康的成年人构成真正威胁的。蝎子是地球上适应力最强的生物之一。它们能够在极低和极高温度下生存，比如沙漠环境的温度。在美国核试验期间，在原爆点（译注：爆心投影点）附近发现的蝎子和蟑螂都没有显示出受到辐射的不良影响。有一种蝎子，Orobothriurus crassimanus，被记录生存在海拔5550米的地方，那里的氧气含量非常低，许多生物无法生存。蝎子作为一种陆地生物，还能在洪水中幸存下来。实验表明，由于蝎子能够减缓新陈代谢，从而在体内保留足够的氧气供应，它们中许多种可以在水中存活数小时。有些蝎子可以在没有水源的情况下无限期地存活，仅仅从稀少的猎物中获得生存所需的水分。

下面继续上文关于希尔内斯码头的黄尾四孔蝎的有关探讨：

So what does the future hold for the Yellow-Tailed Scorpions in Sheerness?

希尔内斯码头的黄尾蝎未来会怎样呢？

Sheerness Docks is privately owned is is therefore always at risk of being sold, or partially sold for redevelopment. Parts of the docks have already been converted into residential accommodation and there have been additional plans to turn more of the docks over to further development for housing. In 2002 Dr Tim Benton, who had been studying the Yellow-Tailed Scorpions at Sheerness for a decade, expressed his serious concerns over plans to convert some of the dockyard buildings into residential flats. 

希尔内斯码头是私人码头，所以总是处在被出售或是部分出售用于重新开发的风险之中。部分码头已经被改造为住宅，并有额外的计划将更多的码头进一步开发为住宅。2002年，在希尔内斯码头研究了10年黄尾蝎的Tim Benton博士对将一些船坞建筑改造成住宅公寓的计划表示了严重的忧虑。

 

In June 2009 a planning application by Dockyard Buildings was successfully fought off following a local petition started by the founder of the Blue Town Heritage Centre, Jenny Hurkett. The proposed application had already been declined once before but revised plans were submitted, which involved converting a historic dockyard building into 26 residential units and building a new development of another 69 residential units, with a car park within Sheerness Docks. Access for the new development proposed knocking a large hole through the historic Great Dockyard Wall, which is currently afforded legal protection as a listed structure. Even the RSPCA voiced concerns about the potential risk to the Yellow-Tailed Scorpions should the proposed development get approval. The proposed application was eventually withdrawn to allow the plans to be reworked before being resubmitted again at some point in the future.

2009年6月，在蓝色小镇遗产中心创始人Jenny Hurkett发起的当地请愿活动下，船坞建筑公司的规划申请被成功驳回。提议的申请之前已经被拒绝过一次，但修改后的计划被呈交了，其中包括将一座历史悠久的船坞建筑改造成26个住宅单元，并在希尔内斯码头内建造一个新的69个住宅的单元，还要在那里建一个停车场。新开发项目的入口建议在历史悠久的Great Dockyard Wall上打一个大洞，该建筑目前作为列入保护名录的建筑受到法律保护。就连RSPCA（译注：Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 英国皇家防止虐待动物协会）也表达了对黄尾蝎子的潜在风险的担忧，如果拟议的开发得到批准。提议的申请最终被撤回，以便在未来的某个时候重新提交之前重新修改计划。

Unfortunately, despite being resident at Sheerness Docks for over 150 years Natural England has confirmed that Euscorpius flavicaudis is classed as a non-native species in Great Britain and is therefore not protected under UK Law from being harmed, killed or removed. These scorpions could swiftly, and perfectly legally, be removed by developers spraying the site with pesticides if they stood in the way of future development or deterred potential buyers from investing in their new riverside flats.

不幸的是，尽管在希尔内斯码头居住了150多年，但自然英格兰（译注：Natural England，一个英国政府组织）已经确认，黄尾蝎在英国被列为非本地物种，因此不受英国法律来保护它们不受伤害，杀死或清除。如果这些蝎子妨碍了未来的码头开发，或者阻止了潜在买家投资他们在河边新建的公寓，开发商可以迅速、完全合法地将它们清除。

 

Is Sheerness the only place in the UK where scorpions can be found?

希尔内斯码头是英国唯一能找到蝎子的地方吗？

No, Sheerness is the only place in Britain where the Yellow-Tailed Scorpions have managed to establish a successful, long-term breeding colony. Historically scorpions have popped up at various coastal towns and shipping ports across the UK for hundreds of years. Should a gravid female scorpion arrive in the UK as an accidental stowaway, it could quickly establish a small colony in the area where it was introduced, as has been demonstrated at many coastal towns across the UK. However these other introduced colonies have always died out within a few years of their introduction at every other location where they have been sighted. It is highly likely that scorpions will continue to turn up at similar locations in the future and maybe one day another viable colony will become established with a sustainable future, but as of yet this hasn't happened anywhere in the UK apart from at Sheerness.

不，希尔内斯码头是英国唯一一个黄尾蝎子成功建立长期繁殖地的地方。从历史上看，蝎子几百年来一直出现在英国各地的沿海城镇和航运港口。如果一只怀孕的雌蝎子意外偷渡到英国，它可能很快就会在它被引入的地区建立一个小的“殖民地”，正如英国许多沿海城镇所证明的那样。然而，每一个其他地区的“殖民者”殖民地总是在它们引入后被看到的几年内就消失了。未来蝎子很有可能会继续出现在类似的地方，也许有一天另一个合适的“殖民地”会在未来建立，它会具有可持续性，但到目前为止，除了在希尔内斯码头，这种情况还没有在英国任何地方发生过。

 

Other Scorpion sightings in the UK

英国其他地方的蝎子目击事件

Whenever the subject of "Scorpions in the UK" comes up it's extremely common to hear many anecdotal stories, from various members of the pubic, about wild scorpions being found at a multitude of different sites across the UK. Many of these claimed sightings come from coastal towns, or towns with busy shipping ports, either current or historical. What is not so common though is finding any proof to support these alleged scorpion sightings. In this day and age most people carry mobile phones with high quality phone cameras, and yet finding any photographic evidence to confirm the existence of scorpions from anyone claiming to have seen scorpions at any of these different sites usually proves impossible. Whilst it is well known that small colonies of scorpion have historically been present at many coastal towns or shipping ports, none have survived for any length of time, with the exception of the Sheerness colony.

每当“英国蝎子”的主题出现时，我们就会经常听到许多来自不同群众的，关于在英国许多不同的地方发现野生蝎子奇闻轶事。这些所宣称的目击事件中有许多来自沿海城镇，或有繁忙航运港口的城镇，无论是现在有还是过去曾有。然而，任何支持这些所谓的蝎子目击事件的证据都不太常见。在这个大多数人都携带有高质量摄像头手机的时代，从任何声称在这些不同地方看到蝎子的人那里找到任何照片证据来证实蝎子的存在却通常被证明是不可能的。虽然众所周知，历史上许多沿海城镇或航运港口都有蝎子的小群落，但除了希尔内斯码头外，没有任何一群蝎子存活了很长时间。

 

There are various sources on the internet that report other alleged sightings of these scorpions in the UK from various sites including have come from Harwich Docks, Pinner, Tilbury Docks, Portsmouth Docks and Southampton Docks, Swanage pier in Dorset, as well as Whitemoor and Ongar Underground Station. Even if there is any truth to the historic existence of scorpion colonies, at any of these mentioned sites, none of these scorpion colonies have managed to survive for many years before dying out. The commonly reported scorpions at Ongar Railway Station are discussed below.

互联网上有各种各样的消息来源，报道了在英国人们宣称看到了这些蝎子的不同地点，包括：哈维奇码头，平纳，蒂尔伯里码头，朴茨茅斯码头，南安普顿码头，多塞特的斯瓦尼奇码头，以及怀特穆尔和翁加尔地铁站。即使历史上存在蝎子群落的事实存在，在上述任何一个地点，这些蝎子群落都没有在消失前存活多年。人们宣称翁加尔地铁站的蝎子将在下面讨论。

Yellow-Tailed Scorpions were also allegedly sighted in 2012 on Erith Pier, in SE London, by night fishermen. However I have since thoroughly investigated this Erith site in ideal conditions and there were no scorpions present there in 2020. In 2015 a number of Yellow-Tailed Scorpions were reportedly collected from a stone wall at the bottom of a residential garden in the coastal town of Seaton, East Devon.

2012年，夜间渔民在伦敦东南部的埃里斯码头也发现了黄尾蝎。然而，我后来在理想条件下彻底调查了埃里斯的这个地方，2020年那里没有蝎子。据报道，2015年，在东德文郡海滨小镇西顿的一个住宅花园底部的石墙上，人们采集到了一些黄尾蝎子。

There are also two unconfirmed records of single specimens of Yellow-Tailed Scorpion found in the UK on the NBN Atlas website:

在英国的NBN Atlas网站上，还有两个未经证实的黄尾蝎个体记录：

First: Yellow-Tailed Scorpion found in church grounds of Croydon Minister, in South London. 2nd July 2014.

第一个：2014年7月2日，在伦敦南部的Croydon牧师教堂发现黄尾蝎。（链接略）

Second: Yellow-Tailed Scorpion found on a farmland site in Charltons, Saltburn-by-the-sea, Cleveland, North-East England. 8th July 2009.

第二个：2009年7月8日，在英格兰东北部克利夫兰的索尔特本海边查尔顿的农田里发现了黄尾蝎。（链接略）

On 4th July 2022, Sara Coker shared an image on Facebook of a Yellow-Tailed Scorpion that was found wild at an industrial site in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. As a wooden pallet was being moved the scorpion fell to the ground. It's unclear whether this is an isolated specimen or if there are further scorpions on the site. No other specimens have been found in the area though. The Facebook post generated a host of typically unsubstantiated claims that scorpion colonies can be found at various sites across the UK, including: Gravesend in Kent, Barry Island in Glamorgan, Scarborough in Yorkshire, the Old Heritage Market in Liverpool, Alton in Staffordshire, Norfolk, New Haven in East Sussex, Dover in Kent, Northampton Golf Course, and Bristol Docks. And yet when I asked each of those Facebook members, who claimed to have seen these scorpions, none were able to provide any photographs to support their stories of scorpions being present at any sites in the UK, other than Sheerness.

2022年7月4日，Sara Coker在脸书上分享了一张黄尾蝎的照片，这只黄尾蝎是在白金汉郡艾尔斯伯里的一个工业现场被发现的。在搬动木托盘时，蝎子掉到了地上。目前还不清楚这是一个孤立的个体，还是在现场还有其他蝎子。不过，在该地区还没有发现其他样本。这篇脸书帖子引发了大量未经证实的说法，称蝎子的栖息地遍布英国各地，包括：肯特郡的格雷夫森德、格拉摩根的巴里岛、约克郡的斯卡伯勒、利物浦的老遗产市场、斯塔福德郡的奥尔顿、诺福克、东苏塞克斯的纽黑文、肯特郡的多佛、北安普顿高尔夫球场和布里斯托尔码头。（译注：以上地名全为翻译软件直译，如有需要请以原文为准）然而，当我问那些声称见过这些蝎子的Facebook用户时，除了在希尔内斯的用户，没有人能提供任何照片来支持他们关于蝎子出现在英国任何地点的说法。（链接略）

 

 

On 30th June 2021, Alan Cooke found a small scorpion in his home in Wimbish near Saffron Walden in Essex. The scorpion looked like a species of Euscorpius but not Euscorpius flavicaudis. It was brown in colour, including the legs and tail, and was larger than the Yellow-Tailed Scorpions of Sheerness. It also lacked the distinctive yellow stinger at the end of its tail, found on Euscorpius flavicaudis. The town of Wimbush is home to the British Army's Carver Barracks and this is a likely source for the scorpion's arrival into the UK. There is also the potential for this scorpion to be an escaped pet. Alan released the scorpion on an old wall near Audley End House. This specimen had a notably swollen abdomen and was likely to be a gravid female. This release could be the start of a new population of scorpions in Essex!  LINK

2021年6月30日，Alan Cooke在埃塞克斯Saffron Walden附近的Wimbish家中发现了一只小蝎子。这只蝎子看起来像真蝎属的某种，但不是黄尾蝎。（译注：现在黄尾蝎也被移出了真蝎属）它的腿和尾巴都是棕色的，比黄尾蝎子大。它的尾巴末端也没有黄尾蝎独特的黄色毒刺。温布希镇是英国陆军卡弗兵营的所在地，这可能是蝎子进入英国的一个来源。这只蝎子也有可能成为一只逃跑的宠物。Alan把蝎子放到了Audley End House附近的一面旧墙上。这只个体腹部明显肿大，很可能是一只怀孕的雌性。这次释放可能是埃塞克斯蝎子新种群的开始！（链接略）

In 2016 Mizraelle and his colleagues, from the Czech Republic, reportedly found a colony of small scorpions near Brighstone, Newport, on the Isle of Wight. These small scorpions were entirely brown in colour, including the legs, tail and pincers. Mizraelle reports that these scorpions, although similar in size, were notably different in appearance to the Euscorpius flavicaudis, that are established in Sheerness, Kent. Mizraelle describes these scorpions as having smaller and less bulbous pincers than Euscorpius flavicaudis, and a more slender body with sharper edges to their body segments. Unfortunately no photos were sent to me to confirm the record, and I have been unable to find any other recorded sightings of scorpions on the Isle of Wight.

 

2016年，据报道，来自捷克共和国的Mizraelle和他的同事在怀特岛纽波特的布莱特斯通附近发现了一群小蝎子。这些小蝎子包括腿、尾巴和钳子都是褐色的。Mizraelle报告说，这些蝎子虽然大小相似，但在外观上与在肯特郡希尔内斯建立的黄尾蝎明显不同。Mizraelle描述这些蝎子的螯比黄尾蝎更小，身体更纤细，身体部分的边缘更锋利。不幸的是，没有人给我发照片来证实这一记录，我也无法在怀特岛找到任何其他关于蝎子的目击记录。

A TikTok post shared in August 2022 featured a slide show of Yellow-Tailed Scorpion images, including some of my own, photographed at Sheerness. The post attracted many comments from members of the public. Within these comments were many claimed sightings of scorpions at various parts of the UK. These included: Exeter, Canvey Island, Hadleigh Castle in Essex, Skegness, Sea Wall in Plymouth Dockyard, Dover Dock Walls. The post was removed by TikTok as it used my scorpion images without my consent.

2022年8月分享的一篇TikTok帖子展示了黄尾蝎的图片幻灯片，其中包括我自己在希尔内斯拍摄的一些照片。这篇帖子吸引了许多群众的评论。在这些评论中，许多人声称在英国各地看到了蝎子。这些地点包括：埃克塞特，坎维岛，埃塞克斯的哈德利城堡，斯基格内斯，普利茅斯船坞的海堤，多佛船坞墙。这篇帖子被TikTok删除了，因为它在未经我同意的情况下使用了我的蝎子图片。

 

Ongar Underground Station scorpions

翁加尔地铁站的蝎子

The scorpion population at Ongar Underground Station was once featured in a report by the BBC back in the 1970's but this "wild" population of scorpions was later reported by The Independent to have been a hoax orchestrated by the station foreman "Fred" who deliberately released five scorpions, bought from a local pet shop in Camden. The scorpions may have bred, or one of the released specimens may have been a gravid female, but some former employees at the Railway Station, and some visitors and local residents, claim the end result was a small population of more than a dozen scorpions that lived in the brickwork of the station for several years, before eventually dying out.

上世纪70年代，英国广播公司曾报道过翁加尔地铁站的蝎子数量，但后来《独立报》报道称，这一“野生”蝎子族群是车站领班Fred策划的骗局，他故意放了5只从卡姆登当地宠物店买来的蝎子。这些蝎子可能已经交配过了，或者其中一个被释放的个体可能是一只怀孕的雌性，但一些火车站的前雇员、一些游客和当地居民声称，最终的结果是，十几只蝎子在车站的砖砌建筑中生活了几年，直到最终死光。

（译注：作者还引用了独立报的报道，不得不说真的是有理有据，此处报道链接略）

"At its peak in 1971, 750 passengers were making the return trip. But even then the track was hardly an economic proposition although the staff did their utmost to drum up business. In 1965, an Ongar station foreman bought five (harmless) European scorpions in a Camden pet shop and let them loose in his goods yard. This formed the basis of one of the few scorpion colonies in Britain, which became an attraction. The staff kept quiet about its real origins, and encouraged speculation that it arrived in a banana van in the 1860s."

“在1971年的高峰期，有750名乘客往返于此。尽管工作人员竭尽全力招揽生意，但即使在那时，这条轨道也很难盈利。1965年，一位翁加尔车站的领班在卡姆登的一家宠物店买了五只（无害的）欧洲蝎子，并把它们放生在自己的货物场里。这成了英国为数不多的蝎子领地之一的基础，并成为了一个吸引人们的事情。工作人员对它的真正来源保持沉默，并鼓励人们猜测它是在19世纪60年代由一辆香蕉车运来的。”

 

 

Dean Sullivan, a former employee at Ongar Railway Station during the 1960's and 1970's, claimed on 'www.districtdavesforum.co.uk' that when David Attenborough arrived with a BBC film crew to record the Ongar Railway scorpion population they were unable to find any specimens. This former employee also claims that the film crew brought their own captive-bred scorpions which they filmed and then claimed were found living wild at the Ongar Railway Station.

Dean Sullivan是上世纪六七十年代昂加尔火车站的一名员工，他在“www.districtdavesforum.co.uk”上表示，当David Attenborough带着BBC摄制组来到翁加尔火车站拍摄蝎子时，他们没有找到任何个体。这名前员工还声称，摄制组带来了他们自己圈养的蝎子，他们拍摄了这些蝎子，然后声称在翁加尔火车站发现了野生蝎子。

（链接略，不过这个链接也打不开了）

"The sand drag at the very end of the rails — intended to help slow trains that overshot the stopping mark — was said to be home to a breed of harmless scorpion and featured in a 1979 episode of the BBC's Wildlife On One. They had been released there by a station foreman who was a keeper of exotic pets."

“铁轨最末端的沙拖——旨在帮助那些超过停车标志的列车减速——据说是一种无害蝎子的栖息地，曾在英国广播公司1979年的《野生动物》节目中出现过。它们是由一个饲养异宠的车站领班放生的。”