"Trappers, for instance, have often witnessed dozens of fleas jumping off an animal facing death in a trap," says Traub. Smithsonian Institution entomologist Robert Traub says such a fever might be brought on by illness or trauma. So when people or animals run dangerously high fevers, fleas often evacuate. People have been trying to rid themselves of fleas for centuries, and yet, for almost as long, Europeans have believed that it is a bad omen for fleas to depart too suddenly.įleas are sensitive to increases in the body temperature of their host. When fleas desert you, you're about to die. Following is a look at some of the other odd-sounding, but true, superstitions about animals, insects and plants. But in some cases these superstitions have come from keen observation of nature and have more than a grain of truth in them. Scientists have debunked many of these as just so much coincidence sloppily observed. "It's like dabbing wounds with alcohol."įor centuries, people have had some pretty strange superstitions about the natural world. "That's why little cuts can be painful if you're in the habit of playing with toads," he says. According to William Dullman, a herpetologist at the University of Kansas, most species of toad secrete an alkaloid substance that tends to dry out human skin. Silly as toad-rubbing may sound, modern science has shown that the Baroque violinists may have been onto something. Just before a concert, the musicians pulled out their toads and stroked them, believing that the amphibians would keep their hands from perspiring. Take, for instance, the Italian violinists of the seventeenth century who kept toads in their violin cases to improve their performances. What some people won't do for a little luck. and other seemingly far-fetched but true superstitions about animals, insects and plants
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