How Do Frogs Leap?
Frogs are the most successful of modern amphibian groups, with numbers nearing 4,000 living species. Their unique jumping abilities have proved invaluable in both predator avoidance and prey-capture success. Frogs must produce a great deal of mechanical power to enable them to jump. The muscular system of the frog is specially designed to provide this energy.
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Muscle
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Frogs are able to jump because of the well-developed and powerful muscles in their hind legs. When the strong extensor muscles of their thighs contract, the hind limbs extend and they push off from the ground. Their smaller forelimbs help them to absorb the shock of landing.
Bone
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In a frog's hind legs, the tibia, fibula and tarsals have been fused into a single bone known as the tibiofibula. The bone at the top of the leg is the femur. The third part of a frog's leg features two elongated anklebones, or tarsals. These add to the overall length of the leg and allow the frog to push against the ground for longer while it jumps.
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History
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The first known jumping frog made its appearance about 190 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period. Scientists from the Academy of Sciences in Prague suggest that the frogs' ability to jump developed as their primary means of locomotion. The frogs' anatomy was a significant departure from the body plan of its fellow amphibians, exhibiting unique features in both the appendicular and axial skeletons.
Top Frog
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The Australian rocket frog (Litoria nasuta) is an exceptional jumper. Scientists from Coventry University recorded it as displaying the highest net mean muscle power output of any frog. It also achieved the second‐longest relative jumping distance for any frog species, at 55.2 body lengths.
Individual Differences
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Frogs have diversified over the ages. Some occupy the forest canopy, while others prefer to live underground. Scientists from the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil found that frogs' jumping ability depended on where they lived. They analyzed terrestrial frogs according to whether they were adapted to digging underground or not. Those that were had significantly lower jumping performances and shorter hind limbs than other species.
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References
- Photo Credit jump of a frog image by Soloshenko Irina from Fotolia.com
