Researchers captured an amazing video showing how praying mantises are incredibly agile jumpers and also exhibit extraordinary precision during leaps that occur at the blink of an eye.

Scientists also say losing control during a high jump can result in a mantis spinning or toppling over, which is a great risk for the small creature since its center of gravity is easily disturbed. Researchers now believe smaller insects can't control the spinning after jumping.

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This video of baby praying mantises making jumps shows they're actually making use of this spinning effect to reposition their bodies during mid-leap to land accurately on the target, according to researchers.

This technique is accomplished by rotating its abdomen and legs in different directions. They shift their torsos and limbs clockwise and counter clockwise to align their bodies precisely.

Researchers thought spinning had a bad effect but mantises deliberately create this spin in mid-air to rotate their bodies and land on the target point, according to study author Malcolm Burrows from the zoology department of Cambridge University.

This also shifts the momentum between different body parts to position the mantis onto the target during the exact moment of landing.

During experiments, researchers brought the landing targets closer to the juvenile mantises and found out the creatures would spin their bodies faster so they will align with the target after landing.

This study can further provide pivotal information as how to how to develop mobile robots that can apply these mantis techniques. This study about the leaping motion technique of juvenile praying mantises was published in the journal, Current Biology. 

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