The black spots on the white snow in Yellowstone National Park are not what they seem, but living creatures.
Photo from Yellowstone National Park
Black spots on white snow Yellowstone National Park not what they seem.
Yellowstone National Park rangers wrote on Instagram that these are not “poppy seeds from your bagel,” but microscopic living creatures.
The animals are known as snow fleas, or spring fleas, and grace the snow on warm winter days, the park said.
“These tiny animals live in the soil and feed on leaf litter and other organic material,” the national park says.
In winter, they can be found “on the surface of the snow — sometimes as dust like pepper, sometimes in thick clumps,” according to park officials.
“They may be looking for food (maybe poppy seeds?), but they haven’t been studied enough to know for sure,” wildlife officials said.
Despite the bug-like name, snow fleas do exist not classified as insectsaccording to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Like insects, snow fleas have six legs but researchers say they are more closely related to crustaceans,” reports the Farmers’ Almanac.
These creatures are also not parasites, meaning pets are out of harm’s way, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.
These creatures get their name from both their flea-like appearance and their “super-powerful leaps,” according to the Farmers’ Almanac.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, snow fleas can be found “among fallen leaves where they forage for decaying material and aid in nutrient recycling” during the non-winter months.
