If you are looking to find mind-boggling news about the animal kingdom, here’s today’s scoop. This article covers some interesting traits and facts about animals that can’t jump including your common animals like elephants and hippos.
Elephants
It should come as no surprise that elephants, of all animals, can’t jump. All owing to their dense body and muscles, elephants are technically incapable of getting their feet off the ground for jumping.
Hippopotamus
Well, you must’ve guessed the problem here. Just like elephants, hippos are too dense to jump. However, hippos make great jumpers underwater. Water helps their bodies move a little more freely and they can jump from the bed of the water body. However, hippos are too heavy to properly swim either. While water makes them light enough to jump under it, they aren’t weightless enough to swim across.
Sloths
We all know what sloths are famous for – their extremely slowness. Even though sloths don’t have dense muscles and can technically make a jump with their physique, their speed doesn’t favor this movement, at all. I mean, sloths can have algae growing on them due to their lack of movement. So, putting in extra energy to jump is unthinkable for them.
Chameleons
Chameleons are the cautious type and prefer to hide than jump and attract attention. But the real reason they can’t jump is that they don’t have the muscle power to make the jump. And if you’ve ever seen a chameleon go, you would’ve noticed the problem with their speed. Chameleons face the same problem as sloths when it comes to the speed needed to make a jump.
Starfish
This one’s a no-brainer. Why jump when you can just stick, right? Apart from their ability to stick to surfaces, starfish don’t have a proper muscular system. They lack any critical organs that would normally constitute a living being like brains or blood.
Tortoise
Tortoises are slow due to their heavy protective shell. Due to this shell, they are weighed down and can’t jump. It is also the reason tortoises can’t swim. One might deduce that this is also the reason for their slowness.
Snakes
Well, you must’ve guessed it right. Snakes don’t have legs. They do have muscles and great control over these muscles. However, these muscles aren’t enough to lift snakes off the ground.
Giraffes
Giraffes are way above any usual animal’s range. Usually, they have no natural need to jump. They have evolved in a way that they don’t need to jump to reach trees or higher places. However, the main issue isn’t their need to jump or not. Their legs are not properly equipped with enough muscle to support a jump. Their bodies are too heavy on their legs to handle a jump.
Porcupines
There is no concluding evidence that porcupines can’t jump. However, they have never witnessed jumping. Even when fending off predators, they just simply use their natural spikes.
Fish
Usually, fish don’t have any reason to dive out of the ocean or attempt a jump. While some fish like dolphins and flying fish like to jump and have the energy that comes from their muscles and energy for swimming, most fish don’t jump. Especially, fish inhabiting the deeper parts of the ocean are used to living in high-pressure surroundings and can’t survive near the surface of the water and don’t jump. You may call this phenomenon a choice rather than an inability since fish have the energy and muscle to jump.
Conclusion
Even though it might seem impossible, some species can’t jump or don’t jump at all. While they may have one drawback, they more than makeup for it with other fascinating characteristics, such as starfish that don’t perish even if you cut off their body parts.
Can all amphibians jump?
You’d be surprised to know that even though frogs are usually known for hopping, not all species of frogs are capable of jumping. Some frog species have short legs and can either hop very small distances or not are incapable of jumping altogether. Toads also hop short distances. They like walking more than jumping like frogs.
Could dinosaurs not jump due to their heavy bodies?
This is a matter of condition. Dinosaurs ranged from every size to every weight. While very huge dinosaurs might not have been able to jump due to their heavy bodies, scientists have accepted that smaller types f dinosaurs might have been great jumpers. The Velociraptor is suspected of having the highest jump height of about three meters.
