Tim the Yowie Man goes on the search for glowing scorpions

The Canberra Times

After the sun sets, Canberra’s bush comes alive with creatures out for their nightly forage. Amongst them are scorpions which emit a stunning glow under UV light.

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00:00 After the sun sets, the bush around Canberra comes alive with animals heading out for their

00:06 nightly forage for food. Amongst the easiest to see, because of their size, are of course

00:11 creatures like kangaroos and possums. However, another critter which becomes active at night

00:18 are scorpions. But because they're so small and because they're dark coloured, it's almost

00:25 impossible to see them. Unless of course, you have a UV light. Earlier this week, Canberra nature

00:32 lover Lauren Ogden invited me to explore part of the Canberra Nature Park with a UV light to see

00:39 if we could find any scorpions. At first we didn't have much luck, but it didn't take long

00:45 before we spotted our first scorpion. And look, they really do glow in the dark. This glow in

00:52 scorpions is caused by chemicals in their outer shell absorbing UV light and re-emitting it at

00:58 a lower wavelength. However, it remains a mystery as to why they glow. Over the course of an hour or

01:06 so, we spotted over a dozen scorpions. Yet another wonder of the Canberra bush.

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