Foreign Property News | Posted by Shwe Zin Win
This might sound something like a desert legend, involving a creature that is no bigger than a human hand, with a tail that delivers not just a sting, but liquid gold. Of course, it's not actual gold, but the idea of scorpion venom being the most expensive liquid on Earth has given it a mythical image.
Prices of that go up to $39 million per gallon, and perhaps that is the reason why it's easy to see people getting excited about the idea of farming scorpions for profit.
This highly potent substance isn't traded in barrels or poured into luxury bottles. Instead, it's carefully collected in microscopic amounts and studied in labs around the world. The high value of this venom doesn't only lie in its rarity, but because it has some exceptional compounds hidden within, some of which could play important roles in developing new medicines.
However, the reality of harvesting and selling scorpion venom is far more complicated than it first appears. While the demand for research-quality venom is real, the market is small, selective, and slow to trust.
Why is the idea of selling scorpion venom so popular?
The idea of making millions by milking scorpions has been widely circulated online, but the reality is far less glamorous. The venom from Palestine yellow scorpion is indeed one of the most expensive biological substances on Earth but the reasons why, and what that means for potential sellers, are often misunderstood.
Researchers study this venom for its potential to treat a range of diseases, from cancer to epilepsy. But just because something is valuable in theory doesn't mean it's easy to turn into a business.
As evolutionary biologist Dr. Arie van der Meijden of the CIBIO-InBIO Institute in Portugal told IFLScience, "I am always puzzled by this big story about scorpion venom being so expensive. I have lots of it.
I should be a millionaire, but I am not."
How are scorpions milked?
Milking scorpions isn't as simple as it sounds, either. Early methods involved killing the animal to extract its venom glands, but modern science has found more ethical approaches. Van der Meijden's team developed a method that uses a low-voltage electro-stimulator to safely extract venom without harming the animal. "That way the scorpion is completely unharmed. If we then put it back in its box and give it a cricket, it will immediately eat. It's happy.Not hurt at all" Not all attempts to collect venom are this gentle. "I have seen people extracting scorpion venom using really high voltages...
and you see the smoke coming out of the scorpion. Obviously, that poor thing is very badly harmed," van der Meijden added.
Even for those who do manage to collect venom ethically, finding a buyer is another challenge entirely. Associate Professor Volker Herzig from the University of the Sunshine Coast told ABC News, "I've been contacted by a number of places... They've contacted me saying they've got this number of scorpions at their farm and they've been trying to sell me venom.
Ref: This tiny creature produces ‘liquid gold’ worth $39 million per gallon
