Nature’s Famous Leapers

It is leap-day, and what better time to celebrate the incredible feats of leaping that some of our natural friends perform.

Let’s start with the obvious, lemmings leaping off cliffs.  Bad news:  That’s an unfortunate myth.  Lemmings are rodents with enormous powers of reproduction.  Consequently, every few years their populations grow too large for their current habitat.  In response, large groups migrate together in search of a new home.  They are good swimmers, and they don’t let obstacles get in the way.  But, they don’t launch themselves off cliffs in apparent mass suicides.  That myth comes from an old nature film in which the film crew actually pushed lemmings off a cliff for the dramatic effect.  Bad behavior by humans, but not by lemmings.

Lemming (photo by Sander van der Wel)

Humans have also engaged in similar behavior to outwit the game animals they used for food, clothing and tools, specifically the American bison.  Native peoples living on the plains would herd bison to the edge of a cliff and then drive them over the edge, collecting the dead animals from the base of the cliff.  Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in southwestern Alberta is an UNESCO World Heritage Site devoted to the aboriginal practice conducted there.  The site was used for over 600 years, demonstrating the sustainability of traditional, communal hunting techniques.

Mark Twain’s famous leaper was a bullfrog, like this one (photo by Carl D. Howe)

But let’s talk about leapers that don’t rely on an assist from humans.  Mark Twain wrote a famous story about one such leapers—The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.  A competition by the same name goes on to this day.  The world champion is Rosie the Ribeter, an American bullfrog, that jumped a total of 21 feet, 5.75 inches in a combined three-leap event in 1986.  But the true world record, we’re told, is a South African frog of unknown heritage that jumped more than 33 feet in one leap.

Artist’s conception of a flying fish (artist unknown)

Then there are the flying fishes.  Flying fish are a family of more than 40 species that can grow to about 18 inches long. The fish doesn’t actually fly, it leaps.  Its streamlined shape allows it to swim fast, explode from the surface and glide along, supported on wing-like pectoral fins.  A single leap can go farther than 600 feet, but the fish can extend the flight by falling to the surface, flexing its tail and returning to the air.  Extended leaps like this can go farther than 1300 feet.

Among mammals, the champion seems to be the red kangaroo.  These 200-pound leapers of Australia move in a series of leaps, with a consistent hop that goes 6 feet high and 25 feet long.  But on occasion they can leap much farther, up to 45 feet in a single bound.

Red kangaroo (photo by PotMart186)

The champion of all leapers is, of course, the flea.  This tiny insect routinely jumps 5 inches up and 8 inches out.  But record flights of fleas are as far as 19 inches, about 300 times its body length.  Comparing that to a 6-foot-tall human, that would be a leap of 1800 feet, or about one-third of a mile!  Eat your heart out, Spiderman.

References:

Encyclopedia Britannica.  Do Lemmings Really Commit Mass Suicide?  Available at:  https://www.britannica.com/story/do-lemmings-really-commit-mass-suicide.  Accessed February 23, 2018.

The flea, world-champion leaper (photo by CDC/Janice Haney Carr)

FleaScience.  How far and high can fleas jump?  Available at:  http://fleascience.com/flea-encyclopedia/life-cycle-of-fleas/adult-fleas/how-do-fleas-move/how-far-and-high-can-fleas-jump/.  Accessed February 23, 2018.

Lindsay.  2012.  Let the games begin!  Amphibian Rescue & Conservation Project.  Available at:  http://amphibianrescue.org/tag/american-bullfrog/.  Accessed February 23, 2018.

National Georgaphic.  Flying Fish.  Available at:  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/group/flying-fish/.  Accessed February 23, 2018.

National Geographic.  Red Kangaroo.  Available at:  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/r/red-kangaroo/.  Accessed February 23, 2018.

UNESCO.  Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  Available at:  http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/158.  Accessed February 23, 2018.

This Month in Conservation

March 1
Yellowstone National Park Established (1872)
March 2
Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, Born (1904)
March 3
World Wildlife Day and Creation of CITES (1973)
March 3
Isle Royale National Park Authorized (1931)
March 4
Hot Springs National Park Established (1921)
March 5
Lynn Margulis, Evolutionary Biologist, Born (1938)
March 6
Martha Burton Williamson, Pioneering Malacologist, Born (1843)
March 7
Luther Burbank Born (1849)
March 8
Everett Horton Patents the Telescoping Fishing Rod (1887)
March 9
The Turbot War Begins (1995)
March 10
Cape Lookout National Seashore Established (1966)
March 11
Save the Redwoods League Founded (1918)
March 12
Girl Scouts Founded (1912)
March 12
Charles Young, First African American National Park Superintendent, Born (1864)
March 13
National Elephant Day, Thailand
March 14
First National Wildlife Refuge Created (1903)
March 15
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, Born (1874)
March 16
Amoco Cadiz Runs Aground (1978)
March 17
St. Patrick and Ireland’s Snakes
March 18
Nation’s First Wildlife Refuge Created (1870)
March 19
When the Swallows Return to Capistrano
March 20
“Our Common Future” Published (1987)
March 21
International Day of Forests
March 22
World Water Day
March 23
Sitka National Historical Park Created (1910)
March 24
John Wesley Powell, Western Explorer, Born (1834)
March 25
Norman Borlaug, Father of the Green Revolution, Born (1914)
March 26
Marjorie Harris Carr, Pioneering Florida Conservationist, Born (1915)
March 26
Kruger National Park Established (1898)
March 27
Trans-Alaska Pipeline Begun (1975)
March 28
Joseph Bazalgette, London’s Sewer King, Born (1819)
March 29
Niagara Falls Stops Flowing (1848)
March 30
The United States Buys Alaska (1867)
March 31
Al Gore, Environmental Activist and U.S. Vice President, Born (1948)
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