Secrets of jumping champion in nature

The dance is the champion of dance in the insect world. They can turn up to 100 times higher than body length.

Only 6mm long, extremely short legs and heavy appearance, jumping cicadas (also called saliva bugs) surprised scientists with a 70cm high shot in the air. This record is equivalent to people crossing a 70-storey building with a height of 210m. Thanks to the superhuman jumping ability, it is easy to escape from the pursuit of birds and predatory insects.

Malcolm Burrows and his colleagues at Cambridge University (UK) find out how this insect stores energy before every jump. The team found the last two legs of a saliva bug dedicated to jumping on trees. While moving on the foliage, they dragged these legs like an excess. But when you need to move far away, the saliva bugs put all your body weight into your hind legs to create a tremendous compression force.

During the pupae stage, the cicada dance is protected by a foamy plastic layer.Photo: osc.edu.

"The pair of jumping legs is made up of many hard epidermis and resilin (a protein with elastic properties like rubber), so they are like two bowls. to prepare for the jump, the two bow bends to form a compressive force enough to propel an object 400 times the mass of its body , " Malcolm explained.

According to Malcolm, there are many similarities between the jumping mechanism of the saliva bug and the elastic mechanism of the bow. Composed of both hard and elastic substances, the jumping legs are not damaged if they are bent for long periods of time. The hind legs of the saliva are always in a ready position so they can jump in a flash. They can dance instantly and continuously without being hurt or exhausted.

The jumpy mites are called saliva bugs because in the pupae stage they are protected by a foamy plastic layer. When they were young they lacked elastic proteins, so they couldn't dance. That ability only appears when they enter an adult stage.