Monday, February 28, 2011

Fleas rule.


 Did you know water-fleas have more genes than humans? 5 millimeters long, the water flea packs in more genes than any species yet sequenced. With 30,907 genes, Daphnia pulex has at least 5,000 more than humans!
Many newly evolved to help the fleas combat climatic changes and pollutants.

(New Scientist, January 22, 2011)

We can't do that can we?

Image from this fantastic website.

1 comment:

gabriele said...

So what kind of water do these fleas live in, and are they perhaps the ultimate insurance against all life on earth being made extinct?