Can leeches leap? New video may help answer that debate

A chance video by a grad student relishing her first big field trip might help resolve an argument that’s raged among biologists for more than a century. The question: Can leeches jump?

Yes, at least one kind of leech can, says Mai Fahmy, a conservation biologist now at the American Museum of Natural History and Fordham University in New York City. She has twice videoed some tiny, plain brown, land-crawler Chtonobdella leeches in Madagascar doing what she sees as jumping as they navigated the rainforest’s low-hanging and fallen leaves.

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