Brazil has a scorpion problem

Scorpions are "taking over" Brazil's cities, scientists have warned. And with these infestations comes a huge rise in stinging incidents, some of them fatal, and often caused by Brazilian yellow scorpions, known for their extremely toxic venom.

Climate change and urbanisation have been blamed for the exploding scorpion population and, experts say, it might already be impossible to stop.

Deadly venom

More than 1.1 million scorpion stings were reported in Brazil between 2014 and 2023: with a 155% rise in reports over that period, according to a study published in Frontiers in Public Health. The surge in numbers is "driven by rapid, unplanned urbanisation", said The Guardian. The sprawl of "high-density housing" encroaches on scorpions' natural habitats in the wild, and "poor waste disposal" creates new environments where they can "thrive".

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This "rampant urbanisation" also "scares away scorpions' natural predators, such as lizards and birds", and "boosts the number of available cockroaches", which make "tasty meals" for the arachnids, said Phys.org. As a result, scorpions have become "the most lethal venomous animal" in Brazil, with 152 deaths from scorpion stings last year, compared to 140 deaths from snake bites.

The native Brazilian yellow scorpion is the most deadly scorpion in South America: its venom can kill a human within a few hours. And as climate change raises temperatures, these creatures are "more active, eating more and reproducing more".

'Herculean task'

Venomous scorpions have "already claimed their place, alongside violent crime and brutal traffic" as the "chronic problems" Brazilian city-dwellers must "cope with daily", wrote Hamilton Coimbra Carvalho, a researcher at the University of São Paulo, on The Conversation in 2019.

The government seems "ill-equipped" for the "Herculean, if not downright impossible", task of tackling the infestations, with no plan other than "tepid" efforts to train health officials in "scorpion risk". It's likely already to be "too late" to stop the spread of scorpions across Brazil's cities.

But the arachnids are "not our enemies", Manuela Berto Pucca, from São Paulo State University, told The Guardian. As "part of the natural world", they play "essential ecological roles", from "controlling pest populations to maintaining biodiversity". And, crucially for the humans who live alongside them, they "act defensively, not offensively".