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"Sarah (I miss her already!) was so kind as to tell us which is healthier: artificial or real Christmas trees. And now for a little &amp;quot;who knew?&amp;quot; news about those holiday pines... ...there are as many as 25,000 bugs in them. According to associate professor Bjarte Jordal at the University Museum of Bergen, fresh trees are homes to springtails, bark lice, mites, moths, and spiders. &amp;quot;If you pound the tree on a white cloth before you throw it out after Christmas, you will discover quite a number of small bugs,&amp;quot; he says. What happens is the bugs snuggle into pine trees and start to hibernate. Once the Christmas trees are set up in nice, warm living rooms, the warmth and light wakes up the bugs. But here&amp;#x27;s the thing--there&amp;#x27;s nothing to worry about. Jordal says that the bugs don&amp;#x27;t leave the tree, and, in fact, they will probably die pretty quickly, since there&amp;#x27;s nothing for them to eat on the trees. Still, he recommends getting a locally-grown hardwood tree, which is most likely to have fewer fauna. &amp;quot;But you should by no means clean or flush the tree free of bugs, as this will damage the tree,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;You need to take into consideration that there are plenty of insects and bugs in potted plants that are regular features in most households. As we all know, these attract plenty of flies. It&amp;amp;#8217;s no different with Christmas trees.&amp;quot; Are you surprised by these buggies? Do you have a tree up this year? Is it real or artificial? More on bugs: * What could have just bitten you * Crushed bugs--in coffee! * Um, Salma Hayek craves grasshoppers Photo: Thinkstock "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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