Why bats hang upside down when they sleep: the answer of scientists can surprise

27 January 2025, 14:33 | Technologies 
фото с Фокус

When bats do not fly, they often hang upside down, being, for example, on the ceilings of caves. But why bats sleep upside down? Live Science writes about this.

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Tara Khokhoff biologist believes that the reason that bats sleep upside down is probably the result of how these flying mammals in the world evolved to fly. When bats began the transformation from ground mammals to flying, they first planned in the air, like a-leteaga proteins.

According to biologist Alexander Lewis, the ancestors of modern bats, perhaps climbed on tall trees and planned between the trunks, which led to the development of strong limbs. The strong upper limbs of gliding bats eventually turned into wings.

According to Khokhoff, since bats have no hollow bones, like birds, they do not have such a large lifting force during the flight. So bats still often hang upside down to jump and fly.

Most people would find it difficult to hang upside down like bats. But these animals are much easier to do than people, because the muscles, tendons and claws of bats evolved.

Scientists say that when a bat finds a place for an overnight stay, it reduces the muscles attached to its claws, which reveals them. Когда когти касаются поверхности для ночлега, летучая мышь расслабляет свое тело и позволяет весу ее тела натягивать сухожилия, соединенные с когтями.

As a result, the claws cling to the roosting surface and the weight of the bat's body keeps the claws closed. In other words, bats expend minimal energy to hang upside down because their bodies are relaxed and gravity does all the work for them..

Unlike people, bats can hang upside down for a long time. While this posture causes blood to pool in a person's head, leading to health problems over time, the bat's compact size allows its heart to easily pump blood throughout the body.

According to Hohoff, when bats became accustomed to hanging upside down while sleeping, this new lifestyle led to the emergence of several other traits of these mammals. For example, bat skeletons have evolved to be lightweight, which aids flight.

When bats hang upside down in hard -to -reach places, it also protects them from predators, for example, from owls, hawks and snakes.

According to scientists, when bats are on the ground, they can still take off from the standing position, but it is more difficult than starting a flight from a hanging position.

As Focus already wrote, a rare 10-meter giant lives in the oceans of the Earth, in which cubs swim out of his mouth. Scientists first discovered these huge creatures in 1899 and since then they have been seen only about 120 times.

Focus also wrote about which representatives of the three kingdoms of nature are the most dangerous to human life if eaten.

По материалам: livescience.com