If you’ve ever seen the popular hero movie… Batman, you probably have an idea of where bats sleep. They often sleep in caves, high up in trees, in abandoned buildings, hollowed trees, or anywhere they can hang upside down in large numbers of anywhere from a hundred to thousands.
They are extremely social animals, so they often sleep within the security of numbers, but as you may know, this can become a nuisance if they’ve begun to inhabit your backyard barn. Despite the inconvenience, it may cause you, bats help to balance their ecosystem by keeping insect numbers in check.
If you’ve ever wondered why bats sleep upside down, you might be surprised to learn that it has nothing to do with survival. Bats sleep upside down simply because it’s in this position that they’re physiologically the most relaxed. Talk about nature over nurture!
For humans, hanging upside down becomes uncomfortable and even challenging after only a few short minutes, but the bat’s body is so small that their hearts are able to continue circulating blood even while they’re upside down.