B.C. Quiz
Answer: Long jump.
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The red fox is a true wildlife Olympian when it comes to jumping, both high and long. The animal can leap easily over a two-metre-high chicken fence. While that may fall short of the Olympic high-jump record of 2.39 metres, keep in mind that the diminutive red fox, measured to its shoulder height, is less than one-fifth as tall as an average human.
It is in the long jump, however, that the fox’s athleticism shines. In the tense build-up to a jump, it flares its nostrils and perks its ears to detect a rodent lurking beneath the snow or grass. Then, with catlike stealth, it comes down on its unwary prey like a bomb dropped from the sky. From a standstill, the fox can lunge more than four metres on flat ground, and nearly eight metres downhill.
Analysts calculated that American Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis, in making an 8.5-metre long jump, leapt off the board at an angle of 23 degrees and a velocity of 38.9 kilometres an hour. Researchers studying video footage of a fox making several pounces saw the animal launch into the air at 40 or 45 degrees, the optimal angle for a missile. Using its fluffy tail for aerial balance, a fox may take to the air at 70 kilometres an hour to land on its prey with torpedo-like precision.
—Bruce Obee
[This is an excerpt from British Columbia Magazine’s Winter 2009 feature story “Faster, higher, stronger,” on the athletic exploits of British Columbia wildlife. See the Current Issue page for more from Winter 2009.]
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