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Dallgow-Döberitz (dpa) - Not because of hibernation: While many animals remain in deep sleep these days, the snow flea (Boreus hyemalis) feels very much alive.
The Heinz Sielmann Foundation announced on Friday about an insect that can cope with frosty temperatures and is particularly active between October and March.
When mating, snow fleas are in no hurry at all.
They were also easy to observe because mating takes up to two days, reported the biologist Jörg Müller, who studies the animals, which can be up to five millimeters in size, for example in the Döberitzer Heide or the Kyritz-Ruppiner Heide in Brandenburg.
Snow fleas are also common in Saxony, for example in the Königsbrücker and Dübener Heide.
Even if several insect species are referred to as snow fleas, the Boreus hyemalis is a representative of the beaked flies and a distant relative of the ant lion and lacewing, it was said.
Outwardly it resembles a small grasshopper with its bent hind legs and long face.
Under the snow cover he is protected from hard frost.
Thanks to an endogenous antifreeze, he can lower the body temperature to minus six degrees Celsius.
When the sun is shining, snow fleas sometimes come out of the snow to warm their black bodies.
Snow increases their jumping power three times - then they can jump almost a meter and a half.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210212-99-413602 / 2