Leaping by animals is a form of bio-physical movement through the air along a ballistic trajectory aided by hind-limb gluteus muscles with twitch fibers. (see inset video).
The animals such as frogs and squirrels often jump but they also take a leap when frightened by an intruder or a predator as an escape. it is held that for animals, there is no better way to either catch a prey or escape a predators than a long sudden leap. Tigers and cheetahs take leap to pray on running animals.
On looking at the leap of a frightened squirrel, a student of mine from MNSS-Rai, Sunil Koak wrote "What a long leap? Is it because of fast twitch fibre in them?" A quick check revealed that gluteus muscle in animals and humans contains both slow- and fast-twitch fibres in hind-limbs or legs which are responsible for sprints, jumps and leaps.
The fast twitch glycolytic fibre is found in rodents and squirrels besides other small animals to escape predators. However, sportsperson, divers, racers and jumpers; for developing twitch fibres of muscle of legs undergo coaching or work-outs.
If one goes by biology, some large animals have stronger and faster twitch muscle fibers needed for explosive sprint and acceleration for longer periods with leaping helped by their stretchy tendons. Before jumping, leaping or sprinting, the leg muscle shortens, loading energy into the tendon, which then recoils like a spring to propel one up and away.
If one goes by physics of leap, it involves an elastic force against a substrate (action) to generates a restoring reactive force (reaction) that propels the leaper away from the substrate.
often, solid or liquid surfaces work as substrates (spring boards) to make any leap a ballistic trajectory. It has been seen that the launch angle and initial velocity determine the travel distance, duration, and height of the leap. However, for a long leap, the launch angle is kept between 35 to 55 degrees depending on the situation.
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