FROGHOPPERS, not fleas, are the champion high jumpers of the world. Researchers have found the 6-millimetre-long insects can leap 70 centimetres off the ground – equivalent to a human jumping over a 210-metre-high skyscraper.
Froghoppers (Philaenus spumarius) live on plants. The secret to their record-setting abilities lies in their immensely powerful leg muscles, which catapult the insects’ upwards in a burst of energy, exerting a force 414 times their own bodyweight (Nature, vol 242, p 509).
