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Article: Vampires run: bats on treadmills show high-speed gait.(This Week)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- March 19, 2005
- Author:
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Vampire bats have evolved their own form of running, the first test of these creatures on a treadmill shows. As the treadmill pace picks up, they switch to a run, with all limbs airborne at one point in each stride.
These are the only bats known to run, so their ancestors probably didn't go jogging, reports Daniel Riskin of Cornell University.
"Because vampire bats evolved the ability to run independently of other runners, they're a separate group for people to test their hypotheses on," Riskin says.
The news comes as a surprise, comments John Hutchinson of the Royal Veterinary College in London. "It's one of the few--or only--examples I can ...