Springtails: The Flip Side

These tiny arthropods can spring 60 millimeters into the air—about 60 times their height—and flip up to 368 times per second to travel from place to place.

Recently, for the first time, researchers used a high-speed camera to capture a globular springtail’s backflips. They found that the arthropods can travel as fast as 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) per second by flipping to escape predators.

One researcher deemed these bugs “impossibly spectacular.” While the globular springtail’s fast flipping and high jumping are certainly spectacular, we know that such impressive feats point back to a creative God who cares for even the most minuscule of his fantastic creatures.

This article is from Answers magazine, January–March, 2025, p. 17.