About 2,500 species of small, wingless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds and feed on their blood. Their bodies are flattened sideways for slipping through fur. The rat flea carried the plague bacterium behind the Black Death.
Quick answers
What is it?Insect
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?Can be
Fleas carry disease: the oriental rat flea spreads the bacterium that causes bubonic plague.
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
ColoursBrown, Black
SizeTiny
Length1.5–3.3 mm
Legs6
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives incolonies
Lives for2–3 months
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Worldwide, wherever their host mammals and birds live.
- What it eats
- Adults drink only fresh blood; larvae eat organic debris, especially adult flea droppings.
Did you know
Jumps 60 times its body length straight up, powered by a spring-like pad of protein.
A female can lay 5,000 or more eggs in her life.
A flea waiting inside its cocoon can sense vibrations, heat and carbon dioxide, signs that a host is near.
Often confused with
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