Biologists have discovered how the white-handed gibbon is able to make
amazing 3-metre leaps straight up into the air.
By using high speed cameras and lasers, researchers studied a
pair of gibbons -- an adult male and juvenile female -- at a wildlife park in Belgium. They found that the gibbons' leaping
ability was unlike those of specialist leapers like the locust,
flea and bushbaby.
Instead, gibbons use their massive, heavy arms to give them
momentum on take-off. By swinging the arms -- which represent 17
percent of gibbon body mass, compared to 11 percent in humans --
the ape's centre of mass shifts forward at the moment of lift,
giving it a big push. That arm swing is combined with a
counter-movement in the ape's trunk and hind limbs just before
jump-off, stretching its muscles and tendons to store energy and then releasing it in a jolt at the moment of
"The gibbons' unusual morphology facilitates a division of
labour among the hind limbs, forelimbs and trunk, resulting in
modest power requirements compared with more specialised leapers,"
says the study, which appeared in Biology Letters.