Have you read a fact that bats always turn left when they leave a cave? It’s a truly remarkable fact when you think about it. For an animal to know the difference between left and right, or to have a distinct preference for one direction over the other. But it does obviously raise several questions. For instance, how many bats fly into a rock wall when leaving a cave, and what about the ones that don’t live in caves? Well, we can confirm that it is a common myth on the internet that bats turn left when leaving a cave. It has been observed that they have no preference and will turn right or fly directly ahead as often as they turn left.
As you might be able to see. If you watch the video that we have on this page, it lays to rest the myth that bats always turn left when leaving a cave. It clearly shows many bats leaving in many directions. But it’s not only a strange factoid, but a rather silly one at that. It makes several silly assumptions. Principle among them are that all bats live in caves and they all make the same turn, for no apparent reason. While it’s certain that some bats do turn that direction, just as many turn right, fly up and straight ahead. Plus, as we said. Not all bats live in caves, with many living in trees. So where did it originate from?
It looks as though this fact first appeared in a list of amazing facts that were being circulated by email in the late 1990’s. Along with this superb fact, several more laughable ones were also listed. As with many factoids they contain just enough information to appear to be credible. But the reality is that in most cases they are purely fictitious, made up to become a viral sensation on the internet.
If you found this interesting you might also like:
