Astonishing footage shows a leech leaping across a forest floor in Madagascar, providing “the first conclusive evidence” that at least one species of leech can jump. <\/p>
Scientists in Madagascar have captured footage of a terrestrial leech jumping. <\/strong><\/p> For a long time, accounts of jumping leeches have been questioned by biologists, suggesting it was more likely that the critters were falling off prey or vegetation rather than springing into the air.<\/p> Now, two videos taken by researchers from the American Museum of Natural History, Fordham University and City University of New York (CUNY)’s Medgar Evers College provide “convincing” evidence that leaping leeches are more fact than fiction.<\/p> The footage and analysis of this extraordinary behaviour have been published<\/a> in the journal\u00a0Biotropica<\/em>.<\/p> \u201cWe believe this is the first convincing evidence that leeches can jump and do so with visible energy expenditure,\u201d says lead author Mai Fahmy, a scientist and a postdoctoral researcher at Fordham University.<\/p>