Jerboa Dune Hop Lab (2D) | mysimulator.uk

Colony

Jerboas 24

Food patches 10

Environment

Wind 45%

Dune memory 70%

Live Readout

Hop synchrony

Foraging progress

0.0 km

Avg. hop speed

0.0 m/s

Patches reached

How it works

Each jerboa launches a ballistic hop toward a chosen food patch. Given a horizontal distance d and a hop duration T (longer for longer hops), the launch velocities are solved directly from projectile kinematics so the arc lands exactly on target in still air:

v_x = d / T
v_y0 = Δelevation / T + ½·g·T
elevation(t) = elevation₀ + v_y0·t − ½·g·t²

Wind adds a constant horizontal acceleration during flight, so the real landing point drifts from the planned target by ½·a_wind·T² — strong wind makes hops overshoot or undershoot patches. Dune memory is the probability a jerboa targets the nearest known patch (efficient, straight foraging) instead of a random one (wandering); it also damps hop-duration jitter between individuals, which is why higher memory raises the synchrony readout. Launch energy (∝ v² ) is spent every hop and only replenished by reaching a patch, so a jerboa that keeps missing (high wind, low memory) hops weaker and weaker.

Jerboa (opacity = energy) Food patch Airborne hop arc