Super Dog

(PHOTO:MYLERDUDE)
I present to you a mini photo essay on the amazing jumping biomechanics of canines. Did you know they have dog high jump competitions? Well they do. (There is also a Guinness World Record for a pig jump)

Well, anyways. Four legged folk such as dogs, or pigs, can jump so high because of the design of their legs. Long, muscley (though very light) legs are better for jumping, as are legs with more joints. Insects do it best, really, having evolved a “catapult” type mechanism whereby they store up elastic energy and spring up. For example, in this 1967 paper on the mechanics of flea jumping, the authors estimated that some could jump 20 cm or 8 inches - more than a hundred times their own body length.

(PS. I found this photo while searching for “chicken”...HA)