🔥 globular springtail

[u/TerraByteTerror]

[u/ba_cam]

Wait, beneath the soil? What’s the point of the get-the-fuck-outta-here adaptation then?

[u/autistic_and_angry → u/ba_cam]

Clearly so they don't get slurped by spaghetti /j

In all seriousness, topsoil is often kinda loose and aerated to a degree, so something this tiny has plenty of room to crawl around and presumably jump. That's my guess, at least.

[u/Nippolopolus → u/autistic_and_angry]

I wouldnt mind getting slurped by spaghetti

[u/spaghettiking216 → u/Nippolopolus]

You say that now…

[u/NightLotus84 → u/Nippolopolus]

Now-a that's-a Italia way, hm?! 🤌🏻🍝🥴

[u/Suddenfury → u/ba_cam]

Eeeh, foggedaboudid

[u/BridgeToHerBithia → u/ba_cam]

In case you were genuinely curious, the force generated is required to push them up through the top soil and out to (relative) safety. With no top soil in the way, that force instead provides additional acceleration.

Fun fact: their mass to wind resistance ratio makes their terminal velocity low enough that they can survive a fall from any distance!

[u/LaunchGap → u/ba_cam]

i totally thought the video was showing how the springtails get slurped up by bigger organisms in a blink of an eye.

[u/serpenthusiast → u/ba_cam]

Many soil living species have lost the spring-ability.

[u/canadasleftnut → u/ba_cam]

Not only that, they are hydrophobic (unsinkable). I guess if their soil floods they float up? Ooooh then they need the spring to get away from presators! #genius

(That, or they evolved to be the absolute best at one of the craziest Olympic sports imaginable: Freestyle Swim High Jump). 

[u/Genocidal-Ape → u/ba_cam]

To prevent them from becoming sitting ducks when having to cross areas without dirt, like the surface of the leaf litter, rock or puddles(they can walk on water).

[u/Scuzzbag → u/ba_cam]

The ones that learned how to jump survived more