Bats and Sloths Don't Get Dizzy Hanging Upside Down—Here's Why
Being tiny and moving slowly are key for animals who live on the flip side.
There’s a reason gravity boots never caught on: Being upside down can get pretty uncomfortable after a while.
Noting the headaches that come with being inverted, National Geographic writer and editor Jane J. Lee asked Saturday’s Weird Animal Question of the Week: "Why don’t bats, and other animals that hang upside down, suffer the same fate?"
The average adult human carries about 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of blood, according to the American Red Cross. That’s a lot of liquid suddenly rushing to your head if you were to hang upside down—hence the discomfort.
By comparison, bats are lightweights. The tiniest bat in the world, Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, also known as the bumblebee bat, weighs in at 0.07 ounces. Even
