Frogs leapt before they landed

Amphibians learned to jump first, then mastered the touchdown

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SPLAT The Rocky Mountain tailed frog and others in its family learned to jump early in frog evolution, but have still not mastered a clean landing. Mike Jorgenson

Frogs learned to leap long before they learned how to land smoothly, researchers suggest, based on the simple observation that the amphibians have been hopping around for hundreds of millions of years, but some species still have trouble sticking their landings.