Article Synopsis
- Locusts jump using a specialized mechanism in their leg joints, resulting in rapid jumps with notable angular rotation right after take-off.
- The study analyzed 263 jumps from various locusts to examine how angular velocity relates to their size, finding that angular velocity scales with mass due to a consistent energy distribution during jumps.
- Despite the variation in size, the energy allocated for rotation is minimal (1.3% of the total energy), indicating that smaller locusts struggle more with body rotation while jumping.
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Article Abstract
Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) jump using a latch mediated spring actuated system in the femur-tibia joint of their metathoracic legs. These jumps are exceptionally fast and display angular rotation immediately after take-off. In this study, we focus on the angular velocity, at take-off, of locusts ranging between 0.049 and 1.50 g to determine if and how rotation-rate scales with size. From 263 jumps recorded from 44 individuals, we found that angular velocity scales with mass, consistent with a hypothesis of locusts having a constant rotational kinetic energy density. Within the data from each locust, angular velocity increased proportionally with linear velocity, suggesting the two cannot be independently controlled and thus a fixed energy budget is formed at take-off. On average, the energy budget of a jump is distributed 98.7% to translational kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy, and 1.3% to rotational kinetic energy. The percentage of energy devoted to rotation was constant across all sizes of locusts and represents a very small proportion of the energy budget. This analysis suggests that smaller locusts find it harder to jump without body rotation.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9992258 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00360-022-01471-4 | DOI Listing |
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