How Far Can a Cockroach Jump?
WouterIt’s difficult to imagine a creature as small as a cockroach jumping over 35 centimetres in a single jump, but the fact is, it can do it. In lab studies, cockroaches have been shown to be able to cover 48 times their body length when jumping. This demonstrates the high degree of flexibility of cockroaches’ legs.
The study’s authors measured the electrical activity of a cockroach’s hind legs. They found that the hind tibiae and hind femur both rotated anteriorly before extending fully. This motion produced a “take-off” velocity of 2.1 m s-1, and a mean acceleration of 220 m s-2.
One particular type of cockroach, the leaproach, only exists in a tiny region of South Africa, and is commonly referred to as a “leaproach.” This creature has wings, but these are not used for jumping. The cockroaches’ legs are made of resilin, an elastic protein that is necessary for leaping.
The average cockroach will molt six times before reaching adulthood. Cockroaches do not develop wings until the final molt. They also are not capable of aiming their jumps towards specific surfaces. Therefore, a cockroach will only jump when it feels threatened or is fleeing from something.
The distance a cockroach can jump depends on its body size and wing strength. The strongest cockroaches can jump up to 100 feet at a time, but most of them are only capable of flying up to the height of an average tree.
