Janice Morrow, Age 10, Of Nashville, Tenn., for her question:
How high can a kangaroo jump?
No animal can leap as high or as far as the great kangaroo of Australia yet he is not the champion jumper of the animal kingdom. When we judge his jumping record, we must take into account the size of an animal. A certain well known insect can jump 20 times the length of his little body., and. The kangaroo cannot compete with this record.
The latest kangaroo news from Australia is sad, very sad indeed. Experts report that the wonderful fellow is in danger of dying out. New laws are asked to protect him and the cuddly koala bear, who is also threatened. Let's hope that the people of Australia wake up before these animals say goodbye to the world forever.
The great, grey kangaroo, alias the forester, alias the boomer, is a fast traveler with a lot of endurance. And, of course, he covers the ground in giant leaps. When he flees a pack of hunting dogs, he can travel at nine miles an hour and keep up the pace for two hours. He may change the pace of his 18 mile race with a swim in the sea.
When Mr. Kangaroo has nowhere special to go and there are no enemies around, he travels at a leisurely pace. Each leap takes him five feet into the air, and he cames down about 10 feet from where he started. But with this kind of jumping, he is not even trying. The bigger his leaps, the faster he travels, and naturally he takes his biggest leaps when he is f1eeing from danger.
At such times., he can leap 15 feet into the air and cover a distance of 20 feet. A naturalist once measured a kangaroo jump which may have set a record. When chased by hunting dogs, this giant bomer cleared a pile of lumber 10 and a half feet high and 27 feet from side to side.
The big kangaroo stands five feet tall plus a tail four and a half feet long. In one leap, he can jump three times his height into the air and cover a distance equal to four times his length. But the cute kangaroo rat of our western states can do much better. He is five inches long, and in one leap he can cover a distance equal. To 19 times the length of his body not counting his long, stringy tail.
The cheerful cricket is also a champion junper. He is about one inch long. With one leap, he can spring 10 times his length into the air. And this high dump covers a distance equal. To 20 times the length of his body. When you ccsnpare the size of the two leapers, the cricket is a far better jumper than the kangaroo.