ANDRZEJ KRAUZE
While perusing the Guinness Book of World Records with his son a few years ago, biomechanics researcher Thomas Roberts of Brown University stumbled upon an entry regarding Rosie the Ribeter [sic], a competitor in the 1986 Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee. That year, Rosie, a bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeiana), leapt 6.55 meters (21 feet, 5.75 inches) in a three-jump series, averaging 2.18 meters per jump. Not only did the impressive leaps constitute a world record, they obliterated the official upper limit of bullfrog jump length, or maximal performance, published in the scientific literature (usually around 1 m or less, with one report of 1.3 m), and the comparable data Roberts and his students were collecting in his lab.
“When we saw this record in the Guinness ...
