Anyone who has ever been to Coober Pedy in South Australia's arid outback will already know how Urodacus yaschenkoi manages to live in such harsh conditions. A walk through Coober Pedy on a hot summers day is stifling to say the least, with a beeline often made to the nearest hotel for a coldie. Much of Coober Pedy's population live underground in wonderfully cool, pleasant conditions that fluctuate very little throughout the year.
Urodacus yaschenkoi worked this out a very long time ago and as seen by the graph above of temperatures taken through a 24 hour period in the middle of summer you dont have to go down very far to reach stability. Midday ground temperatures skyrocket to 60°C during the heat of the day and plummet to 10°C in the early hours of the morning. However at a depth of only 300mm the fluctuation is minimal with temperatures between 30°C and 25°C. The deeper you go the more stable and mimimal is this fluctuation.

To the scorpion this means an environmental stability with greater control over metabolism and hence water loss, which is critical to survival in such an environment.

Dunes such as the one above are often home to this clever well adapted burrowing scorpion.

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