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When squash racket are n’t flying , they often drop from cave ceilings or the undersides of bridge . But why do bat catch some Z’s upside down ?
This topsy - turvy behavior may result from the evolutionary journey bats took toward trajectory , saidTara Hohoff , a cricket bat biologist and the coordinator of the Illinois Bat Conservation Program . " As bats evolved from land - bound mammals to taking flying , they started with glide like flight squirrel , " Hohoff tell Live Science .
By sleeping upside down, bats can more easily avoid predators.
The ancestors of innovative bats might have climbed improbable Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and dropped to glide between the trunks , likely acquire strong limbs for these ascents , Alexander Lewis , a bat research worker at California State Polytechnic University , Humboldt , tell apart Live Science . The brawny arms of these gliding creature develop into backstage over prison term , he explained .
However , because squash racquet do not have hollow bones like fowl do , they do not have as much capacity for lift during flight . As such , bat still loosely " hang upside down to devolve into flight of steps , " Hohoff said .
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By sleeping upside down, bats can more easily avoid predators.
Most people would determine it take exception to hang from a shelf or any other surface , whether upside down or proper side up . However , squash racket can string up upside down much more easy than world can because of the way bats ' muscles , tendons and talon have develop .
" When a squash racket retrieve a billet to perch , it contracts muscles attach to its talons , which unfold them,“Daniel Pavuk , a zoologist and the death chair of biological science at Bowling Green State University in Ohio , told Live Science . " As the talon come to the roosting surface , the bat relax its body . This allows the weight of its body to pull on the tendons connected to the talon . "
The upshot is that the talons grip the roosting surface . " The joints of the talons lock , and the weight of the cricket bat ’s consistency prevent the talons close , " Pavuk said . In other Word , squash racket expend minimum energy to hang upside down ; their bodies are relaxed , and gravity does the work for them .
Unlike humans , bats can hang upside down for long period , accord to theIowa Department of Natural Resources . Whereas an upturned airs would lead blood to pool in a person ’s mind , resulting in health problems over clock time , a bat ’s compact sizing lets its heart easy pump roue throughout its physical structure .
After hanging upside down became the favored method acting of rest for bats , this young modus vivendi supported the evolution of several other traits , Hohoff said . For instance , " the skeletons of squash racket evolved to be lightweight for flight , " Pavuk said . " Because of this , their leg finger cymbals do not do well patronage their weight for elongated period of meter . " By hanging upside down , bats do not have to breathe their weight on their weak leg .
roost upside down also protects bats from some of their potential predators , Pavuk said . pay heed from surd - to - reach location , such as cave cap , can help them avoid their enemies , such asowls , hawks and snakes .
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Bats that are on the earth can still take off from a endure position , Pavuk say . But , " it is more hard than initiating flight of stairs from a hang - down position , " he explained .
However , some bat do not exclusively slumber upside down . For instance , " disk - winged bats in Central and South America have special suction cups on their thumbs that they use to adhere to the underside of leaves , and do so at all sorts of angles , " Lewis said .
Additional inquiry into the evolution of bat flight of steps and the way most chiropteran hang upside down " would be really interesting , since they are the only pilot mammals , " Hohoff said . " There are some species that seem to have an wanton meter lead off from the ground , so meditate what morphologically is different would be helpful to understand . "
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