Thing To Be Today: saltatorial.

 Grasshoppers are saltatorial.

And so, to a lesser degree, are you.

You share this attribute with kangaroos, goats, frogs, spiders, fleas, and dolphins.

Do you know what it is?

Yes, you're adapted for jumping.

(Actually, why are grasshoppers called grasshoppers and not grassjumpers? I mean, have you ever seen one hop?)

Sand and soil is also saltatorial (or so the geologists say) when it is washed about by water or blown about by the wind. 

Biologists also use the word saltatorial to describe a species of animal that's suddenly changed its appearance due to genetic changes. This used to be an alternative to Darwin's theory of gradual changes (and gave rise to the rather lovely idea of the hopeful monster) but it's mostly discredited now, even though occasional examples of large changes happening in a single generation have been observed in some plants, a centipede, and some moths.

Anyway, today's a day to jump - with joy, with any luck - but extra credit if it's to get away from a spider or a kangaroo.

illustration by Adolph Friedlander

Thing To Be Today: saltatorial. This word comes from the Latin word saltātor, which means a dancer.