It never seems to fail that in movies filmed in dry, desert settings, there has to be a scorpion found in someone's shoes, crawling over their bed, or placed in their clothing by the villain of the plot. Had moviemakers studied the little creatures more, they'd realize that as a device of destruction, they could have filmed their story almost anywhere from a half mile underground, to high up in a mountainous region. Because the scorpion is found in almost any environment between the two.

Of course, not all scorpions are the deadly killers that people perceive them as. In fact, there are around 1500 identified species of scorpions and only 25 of them are deadly. The idea that the most deadly varieties exist in the desert is likely because they are more easily accessible than those species in extreme and unreachable locations, where the population of humans is very sparse.

Scorpions abound in hot, dry climates like Mexico. Their abundance, plus the fact that scientists accidentally discovered they will fluoresce under black lights, has made them easily available for study. Unfortunately, they are also easily available to be stepped on or found in your personal space. Approximately 800-1,000 people in Mexico are killed by scorpion stings every year.