A study led by Sam Campbell at the University of Queensland, Australia, has determined that scorpions deliberately reinforce their stingers and pincers with metals like zinc, manganese, and iron, rather than accidentally absorbing them from the environment. Published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface, the research examined 18 scorpion taxa from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and micro-X-ray fluorescence imaging, the team created detailed color-coded maps of metal distribution. They found zinc highly concentrated at the tip of the aculeus (the stinger's needle-like structure) for hardness, with manganese becoming dominant in a distinct region just below that tip.