DO OHIO BATS HAVE CAPABILITY TO WALK?

It becomes hard at times to ponder if the animals which fly can walk? Let’s not talk about pigeons, crows and sparrows in your yard because you have seen them walking. But animals like bats and flying squirrels are not spotted easily while walking. Thus, it makes you think when someone asks you if bats can walk? If we are on same page, then it might be little shocking, but bats are one of the excellent walkers. They have stronger legs (no wonder they hang upside down using their legs on the tree branches) which help them in making balance while walking.



How is body of Akron bats structured? Are they capable of walking?
Bats have toes, claws to form grip and grooves on feet and elbow to move forward. They can climb trees. In fact, their long-lasting flight comes from their ability to climb trees. They reach to the top of the trees and squeak to choose the direction. But even then, it is a rare sight to spot them crawling or walking on the ground. We see them hanging or flying and it is assumed that they have only got amazing flight abilities.

Can all species of Akron bats walk?
Majority of bats can’t walk but this is not counted as a defect. Bats have bones which are very light in weight and wings are touch sensitive which clearly shows that they are adapted to flying. Many species of bats can’t walk at all. Generally, the vampire bats are capable of walking on its front and hind limbs at a speed above average. The limbs of few bats are very thin and weak and have fragile bones. This is the reason that not all species of bats are able to walk.

Along with this, the knees of the bats face backwards unlike humans and other animals where they face forward. Due to this, they can’t walk forward but only backwards and that too without balance. Therefore, they fall if they try to walk and it becomes difficult to stand up and take a flight once again. Not sure if you have ever seen a bat lying on the floor (if might have ended up on ground for variety of reasons), it tries to slowly drag the body to take flight. The limbs of the bats are meant for flying and they are unable to use it for just walking or crawling.

Conclusion
It will not be wrong to say that bodies of bat are specifically adapted for flying and not for walking on ground. But there are few species which have different biological structure and can walk on the ground and climb trees. There are just two out of total 1200 species- vampire and burrowing bats! It is believed that these breeds are dangerous as they feed on humans also to suck blood. Burrowing bats can damage your yard in their own way by digging the yard to look for insects deep in the ground. So, in case you have spotted bats walking on your yard then it could be a concerning issue.

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