Spring Ahead

Fun Facts About Jumping

• Fleas are capable of jumping 100–200 times their own body length in a single leap. That's equivalent to a human jumping over a 30-story building.
• Jumping spiders don't use leg muscles like grasshoppers to jump. They instead force blood into their legs to create a sudden, high-pressure expansion. This allows them to hydraulically launch themselves up to 50 times their body length to pounce on prey.
• The froghopper (or spittlebug) is considered the best jumper in the animal kingdom. It surpasses fleas in acceleration, experiencing forces over 400 times gravity. Humans will typically lose consciousness between 5 to 9 times gravity.
• Kangaroos are efficient jumpers. Once they reach speeds of about 11 mph, hopping uses less energy (40% less) than running at the same speed would for other mammals of similar size.
• The snow leopard has the longest horizontal jump among big cats. They can cover up to 50 feet in a single leap — a full 20 feet farther than the human long jump world record of 29 feet 4 inches set by Mike Powell in 1991.
• There is only one man to have ever cleared 8 vertical feet in the high jump. It was set in 1993 in Spain using the Fosbury Flop, a technique that involves an arched, back-first approach over the bar.
• Jumping on a trampoline is a great form of low-impact exercise because the mat absorbs much of the impact, reducing stress on the knees and ankles. It actually increases your heart rate and blood flow more efficiently than many ground-based activities due to the rebound effect.
• In 2014 a former Google executive set the world record for the highest-altitude freefall jump. Ascending via a helium balloon, Alan Eustace took over 14 minutes to cover the 135,908 (over 25 miles) back to earth. He broke the sound barrier during his freefall, reaching a top speed of 822 mph.