Learn About the Gymnasts in Your Yard

Ever heard of springtails? They’re cute.
They’re harmless. They’re amazing. They
are athletic, and live almost everywhere.

This article was first posted at Science & Culture Today.

More to Love about Springtails, Those Adorable Gymnasts
by David F. Coppedge
Science & Culture Today, 29 Jan 2026

What’s not to love about springtails? These adorable gymnasts I became more aware of in 2022 fascinated us all with their Olympic-level short programs. Launching themselves into rapid flips from land or water in an instant too hard to capture without 10,000 frames per second, these miniature athletes seem too amazing to be real.

What’s more, they are harmless to humans and perform healthy services for the earth, regulating fungi and bacteria on which they feed. Last year I wrote about engineers at Harvard who boasted about a springtail-like hopping robot they made. It was much larger than the actual animal and couldn’t do backflips. We can admire the work but withhold excessive praise until they can get it to eat fungus, lay eggs, and make copies of itself.

Springtails have been in the science news again, and there’s more to love.

Astonishing Variety

For one thing, some of them are really beautiful. Biologists Mark Stevens and Cyrille D’Haese shared photos from their research, writing in The Conversation,

The largest and most colourful bear a strong resemblance to the “fantastic beasts” of the Harry Potter franchise. They come in lurid red, bright purple and fluorescent yellow, among other colours, and have tiny bumps and hairs covering their bodies, making them look more like colourful sea slugs. [Emphasis added.]

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Show your kids the amazing somersaults these creatures do on YouTube (here, here, here).