The body of the flea is brown, and its small and flat body looks so ugly. It seems to be a natural thing that fleas will jump. An ordinary flea can jump up to 20-30 centimeters, which is 200 times its body length, which is equivalent to a human jumping about 360 meters. Although it is not the leader in high jump among insects, it can be said to be a first-class high jumper. Moreover, the flea's long jump distance has set a record of 50 centimeters, making it the long jump champion among insects.
The body of the yellow-striped flea beetle is dark blue, with two vertical yellow stripes on its back. It looks like athlete No. 11. Its fat little head looks so well-proportioned. It pushed hard with its six legs and easily jumped over the 45 cm high crossbar; it surpassed its height by more than 250 times and won the high jump championship. The yellow-striped flea beetle jumped 45 centimeters and won the second place.
However, after long-term observation and research, scientists have discovered that fleas cannot jump at all. What exactly is this matter about?
It turns out that the ancestor of fleas is a winged insect whose wings are rich in a kind of elastic gelatinous protein. After this insect evolved into a flea, the gelatinous protein accumulated in the muscle fibers of its hind feet. When the muscles are tightened, the gelatinous protein contracts to produce a huge explosive force, and the flea is ejected like an arrow from the bowstring to a height of tens of centimeters. It can be seen that fleas do not jump when they move, but bounce.
The common characteristics of fleas and flea beetles are: well-developed hind legs and thick leg segments. The preparatory posture before jumping is to first bring the slightly bent tibia close to the leg joint, then suddenly contract the pull muscles on the leg joint and the levator muscle on the tibia joint, and use the recoil force of the hock joint and the ground to bounce the body. Towards the air and beyond. In order to increase the elasticity of the rear foot, the forefoot and midfoot squat back and down at the same time before taking off, which plays a role in assisting the jump.
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