Meet The Animals: Giant Desert Centipede

This is the giant desert centipede (Scolopendra heros) that was brought in a few weeks ago that was found in Artesia, New Mexico.. Nicknamed "Longfellow" for its enormous size, it is likely female despite this masculine sounding moniker. She was out in about and relatively straightened out (hmm...possible song lyric?) so I took the opportunity to lay a tape measure next to her. As you can see, her body/head region alone is around 9" not including her terminal legs and antennas. I suspect with legs and antennas straightened out she'd be close to 12". Easily the biggest American centipede I've ever seen! Special thanks to Kyle Ramage for donating her to us! Even if you don't have a giant centipede, we also take monetary donations at https://santafereptileandbug.org/donations which help us care for Longfellow and our many other amazing creatures!