Photo by zxgirl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI had so much fun yesterday talking about the Daddy Longlegs that I wanted to carry that fun into the final fact of the week.\u00a0 We are going to look at another obscure arthropod called the Springtail, better known as Snow Fleas.\u00a0 There is no need to get grossed out and close the website down since they are not really fleas. So, have you ever witnessed snow fleas? Well, you may have but just thought you needed a trip to the optometrist instead.\u00a0 As their name suggests you can find them during the winter on top of the snow.\u00a0 They appear as little blue\/purple\/black specks that look like ashes or pepper spread out on the snow.\u00a0 They are usually spotted at the base of trees and they may be there one second and gone the next! So, have you ever seen these little creatures before?<\/p>\n
Springtails are one of the most primitive insects known to man.\u00a0 Actually, I lied since they are no longer classed as insects! Either way, these little hexapods are over 400 million years old. Just to put that into perspective, at this time, fish hadn’t even evolved legs and left the water! Now that is old! Believe it or not springtails are very common and in some areas there can be more than 250 million per square acre! We probably haven’t noticed them since they are usually smaller than 3 mm (0.12″). There is absolutely no reason to be afraid of these little guys. In fact, spotting them around your garden is a sign of rich, organic soils and these little guys will very rarely cause damage to your garden. I recommend you enjoy their presence and marvel their ancient biological form.<\/p>\n
Snow fleas are able to thrive during the winter, as well as in the Arctic and Antarctic, by having a special antifreeze inside of them that prevents them from freezing.\u00a0 This antifreeze contains an unique protein that hasn’t been discovered anywhere else.\u00a0 Scientists believe they may be able to use this special protein to save human organs for a longer time before transplantation.\u00a0 Who would have thought that such a tiny little snow flea could be so useful for humans!<\/p>\n
If there is snow on the ground right now and it is sunny out then I want you to take a trip outside and see if you can spot any snow fleas jumping around.\u00a0 Check at the base of the trees or near your garden!\u00a0 Have a great weekend!<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had so much fun yesterday talking about the Daddy Longlegs that I wanted to carry that fun into the final fact of the week.\u00a0 We are going to look at another obscure arthropod called the Springtail, better known as Snow Fleas.\u00a0 There is no need to get grossed out and close the website down since they are not really fleas. So, have you ever witnessed snow fleas? Well, you may have but just thought you needed a trip to the optometrist instead.\u00a0 As their name suggests you can find them during the winter on top of the snow.\u00a0 They <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4024],"tags":[348,226,654,653,4025,655,651,652,258],"yoast_head":"\n
Facts about Snow Fleas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Describes the behaviour and evolutionary biology of this primitive creature. Springtails are better known as snow fleas and are very common yet very small.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2010\/wild-fact-846-fleas-in-the-winter-snow-fleas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facts about Snow Fleas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Describes the behaviour and evolutionary biology of this primitive creature. Springtails are better known as snow fleas and are very common yet very small.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2010\/wild-fact-846-fleas-in-the-winter-snow-fleas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-26T07:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-16T00:54:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/2297829834_b3ffe14125.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2010\/wild-fact-846-fleas-in-the-winter-snow-fleas\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2010\/wild-fact-846-fleas-in-the-winter-snow-fleas\/\",\"name\":\"Facts about Snow Fleas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-26T07:00:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-16T00:54:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4\"},\"description\":\"Describes the behaviour and evolutionary biology of this primitive creature. 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