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.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
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.