What Are Some Examples of Animals That Hop?
Examples of animals that hop are kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, kultarrs, rabbits and hares, potoroos, Verreaux’s sifaka and jerboas. Some species of birds, including sparrows and bluejays, also hop.
The kultarr looks like a mouse with exceptionally long ears and a long, thin and tufted tail, but it’s actually a marsupial found in Australia. It hops using its long hindfeet but lands on its front feet.
Kangaroos are also marsupials and are members of the macropus genus. The red kangaroo is the largest marsupial on earth. Kangaroos are famous for their ability to hop. Indeed, their feet are so long that they can’t really walk like other animals and must hop. A big male can cover 30 feet in one leap. When hopping isn’t appropriate, the kangaroo uses the combination of its tail and front legs to “crawl walk.” Wallabies, wallaroos and potoroos are related to kangaroos and look like smaller versions of them. Some are so small that they live in trees.
Verreaux’s sifaka is a type of lemur, which is a type of primate. Like other lemurs, it’s found only in Madagascar. Though it’s found in the trees, when it has to come to ground, it moves by hopping sideways with its arms held up.
