| Show scientists learn champ flea can jump 13 inches how far a flea can jump and what it does when a dog walks through the room are questions science has finally answered measuring a fleas jump is not so silly as it sounds says dr george A skinner it really has become an important point in the handling of bubonic plague a flea borne disease appearing in the united states all sorts of statements have been made as to the distance a flea can jump dr skinner wrote in hygeia the american medical association publication they varied so markedly that an investigator decided to find out for himself by measuring the jumps of many fleas under all sorts of conditions he found that the average fleas can not leap straight up much over five inches and only occasionally can one clear eight inches the broad jump is somewhat longer but here it was only the grand champion that could reach 13 inches most of th them em fell considerably short of that distance having determined about the jump the investigators turned their attention to the sort of host a flea likes best they found that while fleas will wander from animal to man and back again they really prefer to stick to something warm and long haired such as a cat or dog the poor flea is handicapped by shortsightedness short sightedness which dr skinner says probably accounts for his helter jumps toward any moving body the side of a fleas life of concern to scientists is the comparatively recent discovery that certain species carry bubonic plague from host to host plague is ordinarily a disease of rodents fleas feed on rats jump to cats dogs or man and transmit the germ |
