A Word To The Wise

Most of us consider an ordinary flea nothing more than a nuisance to ourselves and to our pets. But few of us are knowledgeable about the awesome feats these tiny creatures can perform . For example …

A flea can jump a distance one hundred fifty times its own length (that is equivalent to a human person jumping one thousand feet). Entomologists have clocked “rat fleas” jumping thirty thousand times without stopping. Other flea species can accelerate fifty times faster than the space shuttle. Fleas even have been known to go months without a meal and to survive after being frozen for a year. And consider the grim side: as carriers of plague, fleas have caused more deaths than all…