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Article: Blood on the run.(vampire bats)
- Article from:
- Journal of College Science Teaching
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Science Teachers Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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They sleep hanging upside-down, have sharp fangs, come out to eat at night, and live off the blood of other animals. If all that weren't spooky enough, apparently vampire bats are also ... hitting the gym?
"They spent one evening on the treadmill, so I don't know if you call that long term exercise or not, but ... we don't know how much they're using this running gait in the wild," says Cornell University zoologist Daniel Riskin.
Several species of bats are known to use their strong forelimbs and weak hind legs to walk or crawl along the ground, while the rest will just fumble around on the ground if they can't fly. "Most bats are very, very bad at ...