Page 47 - World of Animals - Issue #30

Leaping legends

BOW-WINGED Bow-winged How grasshoppers
GRASSHOPPER leap into the air
Chorthippus biguttulus
grasshopper jump depends on three main factors –
Class Insecta How far and how high a grasshopper can
their size, sex and species – but all make
Loud singing in the city their leaps in the same way. The insect
Territory Europe crouches down with its larger back legs
Diet Plants A study of common bow-winged gripping the floor but folded beneath it
Lifespan Unknown grasshoppers found that the male insects
Adult weight Unknown (they are around twice the size of the front
Conservation status altered the frequency of their calls when legs). It then uses its hind leg muscles to
in cities, emitting a higher pitch so that the push against the ground at just the right
females could hear them over the hustle and speed and force to propel it forward.
NOT EVALUATED bustle of the urban environment.

Mottled grasshopper

The master of disguise that looks nothing like its friends
The mottled grasshopper is highly variable in dry grasslands and heathlands. Found across
its appearance, combining green, grey, brown Europe, this species can be identified by its
and white to blend with its environment of slightly club-like antennae.

50x 10x 8x

ITS OWN ITS OWN ITS OWN
LENGTH HEIGHT LENGTH

Jumping spider Klipspringer Red kangaroo
50 times its own length 10 times its own height 8 times its own length
When jumping spiders contract the muscles in This petite species of African antelope walks Red kangaroos are able to cover up to eight
their body, blood pressure is increased in the around on its toes but can leap skilfully from metres (25 feet) in a single leap and jump to a
third or fourth pair of legs. This causes them one rock to another, absorbing the shock of huge height of 1.8 metres (six feet). That’s no © Alamy; FLPA; Getty; Nature PL; Thinkstock
to expand very quickly and the resulting act of a jump with its four hooves, which are the mean feat for an animal that weighs as much
extending the legs then launches them into the consistency of hard rubber. Klipspringers can as 90 kilograms (200 pounds) and is up to 1.6
air. A strong silk thread is released as a tether to stand on an area of rock as small as three metres (5.3 feet) tall. The secret is the immense
control the jump. centimetres (1.2 inches) in diameter. power in its hind legs.

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