How is it possible for bats to have normal digestion if they hang upside down? (5 photos)

Everyone knows that you can't eat lying down. And I think it's unfair! Look at bats, they eat and digest food upside down. And they don't choke! By the way, how is that even possible?





Yes, it's comfortable for me. Don't disturb my sleep!

The insides of bats are not much different from ours. The stomach, digestive glands and intestines follow each other, like in all other mammals. But the processes inside all this are much more interesting.



Gluttoning sweets under a warm blanket is a favorite pastime of all mammals.

Let's start with the fact that bats and flying foxes digest any food in a maximum of two hours. The less undigested food is inside, the less extra weight the animal carries. This is extremely important for flight!





Houston, we have a problem! We have an overload on board, we need an emergency evacuation!

Flight is demanding not only on the weight of the pilot, but also on its energy resources. In order to conquer the air element, bats have accelerated their metabolism. Bats and foxes eat like crazy - up to a third of their own weight per night! The nutritious goodness is not stored on the sides, but quickly disassembled into components and delivered to the cages to charge the animal for the next flight.



You come and ask me for something, but you ask without respect, you don't offer me friendship, you don't even call me "Godfather".

Lightning-fast metabolism is achieved due to the abundance of enzymes. Both in us and in bats, the liver is responsible for their production. As a result, in bats it can make up to 20% of the animal's weight! And in fruit-eating leaf-nosed bats, for example, it is as much as 80%! To ensure that nothing gets lost along the way, the intestines of bats are abundantly covered with villi of complex shape. They instantly absorb everything that has broken down in the body.



Some bats don't even have much to digest! For example, bats that feed on nectar.

So what's up with hanging upside down? Now we've come to the meat of our discussion - when a mouse hangs upside down, all the above processes slow down significantly! In a calm state and during sleep, the frantic metabolism slows down. Enzyme activity drops, food literally "stands" in the stomach and doesn't go through the gastrointestinal tract. And this doesn't only concern digestion: body temperature, heartbeat, and breathing also slow down. In fact, bats digest like everyone else - in a vertical-horizontal position!