Eco Kids Planet Magazine – May 2023
English | 38 pages | pdf | 18.93 MB
Grrrilliant to meet you Eco Kids Planet magazine – welcome to your ‘bouncy’ issue!
I am a native of the Americas and my closest relatives are cheetahs and jaguars. Like them, I’m a member of the Felidae family (a fancy name for cat). Talking of names, I have over 40 of them. I can be called cougar, puma and catamount. In fact, having this many names landed me in the Guinness Book of Records as the Animal With the Most Names.
But who cares about names when you can jump seven metres into the air from standing? I am the land animal that holds the highest jump on record.
Imagine leaping over a giraffe’s head – that’s how high I can jump. I can also spring straight up into a tree… while holding a deer in my jaws! Now to horizontal leaping…
I can cover 12 metres in a single bound! That’s the length of a whale shark (not that I’ve ever seen one). Being an ambush predator, I need these jumping skills. I must leap from rock to rock in my mountain habitat. My ability to jump means my survival.
How do I do it? Having the largest legs in the Felidae family helps. My forelegs are connected to my shoulder blades, making it easy for me to swerve.
And my vertebrae (backbones) rely on muscles instead of ligaments, giving me more bounce.
Now, gotta fly… Or should I say jump?
Jeté xx
(Jeté – a ballet jump in which a dancer springs from one foot to land on the other.)
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