Can Lice Jump?

By Lice Clinics of America

No. Lice can’t jump. If you look at a picture of a head louse or these lice videos, you’ll see a long, flat body with six legs. If you look at those legs under a microscope, you’ll see that they have claws at the end. And those claws were designed for just one thing: climbing up and down strands of human hair.

So head lice can’t jump, swim or fly. In fact, they don’t move well at all off their host. But they sure can crawl along strands of hair quickly.

If one head comes in contact with an infested head, a head louse can easily transfer from the hair of one person to the next, kind of like a kid swinging hand-over-hand across the monkey bars.

Learn more about lice and lice treatment.