Chapter 14, Problem 22CQ

We’ve seen that stout tendons in the legs of hopping kangaroos store energy. When a kangaroo lands, much of the kinetic energy of motion is converted to elastic energy as the tendons stretch, returning to kinetic energy when the kangaroo again leaves the ground. If a hopping kangaroo increases its speed, it spends more time in the air with each bounce, but the contact time with the ground stays approximately the same. Explain why you would expect this to be the case.