From the full episode: Joe Phillips: The Scorpions That Can Kill You | The BEYOND Podcast

Growing up in a house in Harare infested with scorpions is where Joe Phillips's passion for wildlife took hold. In this clip from his episode of The BEYOND Podcast with host Aleksandra King, the trained zoologist and Surf Balm founder explains the difference that actually matters: the Buthidae and the non-Buthidae. One stings like a hot bee and you walk away; the other can be a matter of days. It is the kind of precise, lived knowledge that sets Joe apart, and a reminder that his fascination with the natural world began long before television. Watch below, read the full transcript, and find the complete conversation on the anchor page.

Full transcript

Which city did you live in? Harare. When I was there, never in my life have I seen spiders of that size. You love them though. No, you don't love them. I looked up at the ceiling one day and it was about that big, and it dropped on the ground. Our house in Zimbabwe, in Harare, was infested with scorpions. There are two types, and this is where my passion is. There are two types of scorpions. There is the Buthidae and the non-Buthidae. The non-Buthidae is fine, which luckily is what we had, so we have all been stung by them, and it is like a hot bee sting, really painful, but you won't die. The Buthidae, if you get stung by them, it can be a matter of days, just the way they put their tail on.

Watch the full conversation: Joe Phillips: The Scorpions That Can Kill You | The BEYOND Podcast