Searching for Snow Fleas
Clip | 4m 42sVideo has Closed Captions
Looking for a tiny sign that winter is on its way out? Evie hit the snow-covered trails in
❄️🔎 Looking for a tiny sign that winter is on its way out? Evie hit the snow-covered trails in search of Snow Fleas — also known as Springtails! These tiny creatures can be spotted crawling out from under leaf litter as the deep freeze begins to loosen its grip. 🌨️🍂 In this episode of Outdoor Elements, Evie explains how they survive the harsh winter conditions...
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Searching for Snow Fleas
Clip | 4m 42sVideo has Closed Captions
❄️🔎 Looking for a tiny sign that winter is on its way out? Evie hit the snow-covered trails in search of Snow Fleas — also known as Springtails! These tiny creatures can be spotted crawling out from under leaf litter as the deep freeze begins to loosen its grip. 🌨️🍂 In this episode of Outdoor Elements, Evie explains how they survive the harsh winter conditions...
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Let's go see if we can find some.
So I'm walking down this kind of bumpy, snow packed path with dappled sunlight, and there's lots of shrubbery and some trees and of course, some footsteps, too.
So we'll just keep our eyes open, because what we're looking for are little tiny black specks.
And those specks are going to be moving.
Well, I don't see any snow fleas yet, but hey, I found some evidence of rabbits that have been feeding on these shrubs.
They leave their telltale round droppings on the surface of the snow after they've chewed off the twigs of the, It looks like some raspberry.
Black raspberry.
There's some vines here, and they've dropped their pellets everywhere.
Did you know sometimes they won't re-eat their droppings because there are.
They are only able to partially digest the vegetative material and so in really harsh winters, sometimes, they’ll re-eat or eat their droppings.
So got to keep looking for snow fleas though.
Okay, here they are.
Lots of little black specks on the surface of the snow.
Springtails or snow?
Fleas are arthropods, and they're not actually insects.
They emerge in late winter from the soil and the leaf litter below the snow.
Often I find them on sunny days, late in the winter, and I usually find them in depressions, sometimes around the base of trees, and in this case in footsteps in the snow, and also occasionally some places where people have planted their ski poles.
That's perhaps because there's a little more shelter there for these tiny creatures, little less wind and a little harsh, less harsh sunlight that would dry them out.
Springtails actually feed on things like algae and organic material.
They are important decomposers in our ecosystem and they are eaten by a number of things as well.
So in late winter, foraging beetles or even ants or small birds can feed on springtails.
They get their name from a tiny appendage that's forked, called a circular, and that springs out, enabling them to jump short distances.
They're not related at all to fleas that you might have on your pet, but because they jump like fleas on your dog, they get that name Snow Flea.
Sometimes scientists actually see them in warmer temperatures, making mass migrations, but this time of year, in the winter, they're actually collecting and gathering in large groups to mate and to do some feeding after they've been in the cold soil for so many weeks.
They actually have a specialized protein in their body that prevents them from freezing solid.
So as soon as the temperatures warm just a little bit, they're able to come up through the leaf litter, up through the snow and gather in these protected spaces.
If you want to look for snow fleas, pick a late winter day when the sun is out and kind of look around the base of trees and in depressions on snow covered paths, and hopefully you'll find some.
And when you do, you know winter is coming to an end.
Remember, you can find your own outdoor elements when you visit area parks and natural areas.
We'll see you soon.
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