"A bag of fleas is easier to control then our dear Chris Kirkpatrick."--Joshua Scott Chasez A number of diseases are transmitted by fleas, including epidemic typhus and bubonic plague. Fleas also carry tapeworms from dogs and rodents and occasionally transmit them to humans. Fleas are generally less than three-sixteenth of an inch long. More than 2,400 flea species exist worldwide. The lifespan of fleas on dogs is usually more than 100 days, in which time a pair of fleas and their descendants can produce millions of offspring. A female flea consumes 15 times its body weight in blood daily. Fleas are attracted to animals by body heat, movement, and the carbon dioxide they exhale. Fleas accelerate the equivalent of 50 times faster than a space shuttle does after liftoff. Fleas can jump up to 150 times the length of their bodies - sideways or up - equivalent to a person jumping nearly a thousand feet.
