Explore Outdoors ~ Going on a Flea hunt ...

 ... snow fleas, that is. Monday it was so warm (40oF) that I decided to check out the old oak log behind my garden. It’s covered with moss and lichens, and on Monday the snow below it was covered with snow fleas!

Seen from a couple feet away, snow fleas look like specks of pepper. 

Up close, they look like bigger specks of pepper! Unless you have a hand lens, and then you can see their legs. They have six, but they aren’t insects. And they aren’t even fleas. They’re teensy arthropods called Collembola, or springtails. They’re a whopping 1/8 inch long and have two tail-like structures that are tucked under their belly – until they release and catapult the snow flea into the air, flinging them up to 100 body lengths away. It’s a great ride with one problem – the snow fleas have no control over where they land. 

Turns out snow fleas have been around a long time, at least 400 million years. By comparison, the first dinosaur didn’t show up until 240 million years ago, writes Judy Rosovsky. Check out her article at VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.

Snow fleas have been found on Mt. Everest, so finding them in my backyard isn’t unusual. They’ve got a protein that acts as an anti-freeze to keep their cells from freezing, says Judy. And they don’t bite people – or pets. Instead, these tiny-but-mighty jumpers subsist on leaf litter, decaying plants, and fungi. 

This week, if you’ve got snow and a warm day, go on a snow flea hunt!

Wild Outdoor Wednesday

 On a warm day, go outside and look for something that resembles pepper spilled on the snow. Look closely - those "pepper flakes" might be snow fleas, and they might jump.

What other insects do you see? Capture the colors and images you see in your sketchbook.


Remember to take your sketchbook or journal with unlined pages, something to draw and write with, and something to add color ~ watercolors, colored pencils, crayons, or markers.

My Snow Has Fleas!

Earlier this week we had so much snow that we just had to strap on our skinny skis and lay some tracks across the hayfields and into the woods. One morning when I headed out on my skis, I found specks of pepper in the tracks – pepper specks that hopped up and down.

It wasn’t pepper – it was a bunch of snow fleas. Snow fleas aren’t really fleas; they’re tiny arthropods called Collembola, or “springtails” and they’re about 1/8 inch (2 mm) long. They’re called “springtails” because they have two tail-like furcula on their back end – thin tails that are tucked up underneath their belly. When the springtail wants to move it releases its spring-loaded tail, which catapults it up into the air. It’s a great way to move, but there’s only one problem: the tiny critters can’t control where they go, so they often land in the same spot or just a few inches away.

Springtails live in the soil, which right now is a couple feet under the snow. But on warm winter days they climb or hop or catapult their way to the surface and hang out in cross country ski tracks and other places. They’ve got glycine-rich antifreeze protein inside that keeps them from turning into ice crystals.

I found my snow fleas in the woods, but they’re everywhere. So keep your eyes out for tiny flecks on the snow. And when you find some, grab a hand lens and get a good look at them. 

You can find out lots more about snow fleas here. And remember to check out more cool science stuff at STEM Friday.