but the real question is...


Is it really possible to train a flea? The answer is YES. Just ask Philip Koehler, an entomologist at the University of Florida. "Yes, believe it or not, it has been done," he reports. But it's not quite the same as training a dog. Consider, for example, a flea being trained to pull a miniature coach. First, the flea trainer must condition the insect to abandon its usual mode of transportation-- hopping. This can be done by putting the flea in a test tube turned on its side. The unassuming flea instinctively jumps and bangs its head on the glass ceiling. He leaps again, with the same results. Then again. When enough of a migraine has set in, the flea realizes hopping is counterproductive and thus learns to crawl and walk. Then comes the hard part--harnessing the flea. It takes a steady hand and abiding patience-- and a powerful magnifying glass -- to loop the extremely fine wire around the flea's neck. If the loop is pulled too tight, the flea chokes to death; if it's left too loose, the flea can flee. Once harnessed, it's nothing for the flea to pull a coach hundreds or even thousands of times its own weight.