A Hop, Skip, And A Jump

The email came in with a lot of capital letters. “Do you know an ENTOMOLOGIST?” my friend asked. “I have a SCARY insect in my basement that looks like an ALIEN.” When I worked as a naturalist, we got a lot of questions like this one, so I asked for more information. I was pretty sure it was a large cricket of some kind and as she described it further, “It JUMPS!” pretty much confirmed that. She looked at some pictures and we decided it was a camel cricket, an insect with very long legs giving it another name, spider cricket.

As we emailed back and forth it became apparent that the scariest part was the jumping. “I had no idea where it would show up next!” she said. My friend had been able to put a bowl over the offending insect, slip a paper under it, and release the cricket outdoors. In doing so she also dropped and broke her bowl but left the pieces outside her door until morning so she didn’t run into her little intruder again.

Animals that jump do so as a strategy to fool predators, and my friend’s response showed that it did indeed work. She had no idea which direction it would go in and was afraid it might land on her.

Hopping, skipping, and jumping are lots of fun for human kids to learn to do, and many of us probably have fond memories of doing so. We jumped rope, played hopscotch, skipped to my Lou, and hopped on one foot because we could.

In nature, young mammals do a lot of playing as they learn how to run, chase, hide and hunt. You may see young foxes or coyotes jumping about, learning to pounce, but also for what appears to be fun.

For many others, though, hopping and jumping are serious business. Late summer is when we hear the katydids singing at night. It is also when the grasshoppers and crickets begin to call. None of these insects actually sing with voices but make sounds by rubbing wings and legs together. Each species makes a particular sound, and by late August the nights are full of sound. Most are looking for mates, and as the temperatures get cooler, the chorus will dim. All of these insects hop and jump, though they can fly a little.

Frogs and toads hop. So do rabbits and some kinds of mice. Hopping is an interesting way for animals to avoid being caught and is often done by species that might have a difficult time outrunning their predators if they ran in a straight line.

If you read Thornton Burgess stories as a child, you no doubt remember that Peter and Mrs. Rabbit fooled Granny and Reddy Fox all the time by hopping in zigzags and changing direction. Foxes, like most predators, run in a straight line and often lose sight and scent of a prey that dodges in such a random manner. It doesn’t always work, of course, but more than a few rabbits live a bit longer by employing this strategy. Even a hawk can get confused.

If you’ve ever tried to catch a frog or toad on land without a net you know they can be quite tricky. They hop this way, then that way. Sometimes the hop is long, sometimes short, and sometimes they change direction in a drastic way. 

Grasshoppers are quite common in grassy areas and if you’re out walking near or through a meadow you will find many. Often they are hidden, quietly eating or just hanging out, but your footfall may send them jumping. They have wings and can fly short distances and in some cases are confused with butterflies. You can usually tell they are grasshoppers by the way they stay low to the ground and only fly in fits and starts, not the longer, higher flights that butterflies make. Grasshoppers are generally very well camouflaged. Sought out by many birds and animals as food, this is a handy adaptation. Here on the Cape, we have grasshoppers that live in the dunes and on the beaches as well. The sand grasshoppers are so well camouflaged you may almost step on one before it flies up.

Crickets often seek damp areas, which is why we may find them in our basements, sheds, or garages. Because we’ve had such a dry summer you may find more than usual. If you get a little visitor like my friend had, please don’t freak out and kill it. Crickets of all kinds are very important to the biodiversity of our area, providing food for countless other creatures. Take a breath and either catch and release, hopefully without breaking anything, or ask a friend to help you out. In many cultures, having a cricket in your home is thought to bring good luck.

Nature is an amazing designer. Every species of animal has its own way of moving, eating, hiding, and seeking. Some run, some burrow, some swim, some fly, some slither, and some jump. It’s such an interesting world we live in. 

It is not unusual to be frightened by something you never saw before. We can all be surprised by something jumping, slithering, or flying low over our heads. An alarm response means our own survival instincts are kicking in. Take a breath, evaluate the situation, and either quietly remove yourself from the area or ask for help. Most of the time the animal is as afraid of you as you are of it so give it a chance to go on its way. Remember, we look enormous and dangerous to almost all other critters. Be kind and let them all be.