# Do bats poop on themselves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674 "2009-10-30T00:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/1 "2009-10-30T00:16:49Z")
At the zoo, someone else looked up at the Giant Fruit Bats and wondered aloud whether bats poop on themselves. After all, there they are, hanging from their feet, with their buts in the air . . . So do they poop on themselves? Or do they only poop when flying, or have little pellet like poop, or have some other technique for keeping themselves reasonably poop free? Inquiring minds want to know. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/2 "2009-10-30T00:30:48Z")
This has come up before: if you don’t mind me asking, humans and other animals manage not to poop themselves when sleeping or resting. Why do people think bats are going to do that? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/3 "2009-10-30T00:31:12Z")
We actually discussed this not too long ago! Bats have the capability to hang on with their wing claws and flip their bodies upside down, poop, and flip back up. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/4 "2009-10-30T00:33:43Z")
[Informative recent thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=531830) ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/5 "2009-10-30T01:30:19Z")
Thank you, **runner pat** for providing me with a link to a recent thread which I do not recall noticing, probably because I’ve been spending too much time elsewhere. But like someone in that thread mentioned, I’m not sure I’d thought about it before, but once someone brought the subject up, I suddenly had a burning need to know, and suspected there would be expert opinion available here. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/6 "2009-10-30T03:30:25Z")
> [@Scheidt-Hoch](#): > > This has come up before: if you don’t mind me asking, humans and other animals manage not to poop themselves when sleeping or resting. Why do people think bats are going to do that? Well, most humans and other animals don’t sleep with their asses above their heads. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/7 "2009-10-30T10:42:52Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Well, most humans and other animals don’t sleep with their asses above their heads. What difference does arse position make? Even if I did somehow sleep with my arse above my ahead I still wouldn’t poop when I was asleep. Would you? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/8 "2009-10-30T11:40:50Z")
> [@Scheidt-Hoch](#): > > What difference does arse position make? Even if I did somehow sleep with my arse above my ahead I still wouldn’t poop when I was asleep. Would you? In that position? Maybe. It would depend on my mood. 😃 Seriously, though, it’s not _that_ crazy-- we have a resting position that’s ass-down to do our business. Bats don’t, or at least not an obvious one. I’m sure somewhere, bats are asking, “So do people just crap right on the couch while they’re sitting there and just wallow in it, or do they do it as they walk along?” ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/9 "2009-10-30T11:50:34Z")
> [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](#): > > Seriously, though, it’s not _that_ crazy Either: 1. I see what you did there or 2. Are you kidding? It’s totally _batshit_ crazy! ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/10 "2009-10-30T11:51:40Z")
> [@Scheidt-Hoch](#): > > This has come up before: if you don’t mind me asking, humans and other animals manage not to poop themselves when sleeping or resting. Why do people think bats are going to do that? I don’t. But, having the issue brought up by someone else’s subconcious, I wanted a little more information on how bats avoid pooping on themselves. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/11 "2009-10-30T12:21:19Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > I don’t. But, having the issue brought up by someone else’s subconcious, I wanted a little more information on how bats avoid pooping on themselves. In the thread linked above it’s explained that some bats can in fact urinate without moving from the hanging position, and some others move their bodies to avoid falling crap and piss. But even though, in limited cases, there are answers of the type your friend was looking for, I still think it’s a fairly silly question (speaking as one unqualified armchair natural philosopher to another). The point is that bats do not remain hanging upside down _all the time_. Lots of animals, including dogs, cats, humans etc move from where they sleep and rest to crap somewhere else. Other flying animals, namely birds, crap while in the air. Why would you not assume that bats move before crapping? Now hibernation might be a different story, but it wasn’t mentioned in the OP. Anyway the issues there would apply to other animals, not just ones that hang upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/12 "2009-10-30T12:28:47Z")
Well, there was that time Batman had a bad burrito and Robin was in the bat-room. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/13 "2009-10-30T12:34:32Z")
Colonel Bat Guano (if that really is his name) could tell you the answer. ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/14 "2009-10-30T17:40:01Z")
From the shows I’ve seen on bats, the bat guano is piled up several feet deep, not under where they sleep, but pretty much everywhere between the cave walls and cave entrance. It seems like they wait to poop until they take flight. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/15 "2009-10-30T17:54:33Z")
> [@Scheidt-Hoch](#): > > Lots of animals, including dogs, cats, humans etc move from where they sleep and rest to crap somewhere else. Yeah, but I’ve never seen a dog doing it while he’s flying. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bats-poop-on-themselves/515674/16 "2009-10-31T01:29:52Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > We actually discussed this not too long ago! Bats have the capability to hang on with their wing claws and flip their bodies upside down, poop, and flip back up. In case anyone’s interested, I happen to actually have video footage of a fruit bat performing this maneuver (mind you, it wasn’t like I was camping out waiting to catch this on film - I was just at the bat cage and I was wondering why this one bat wasn’t upside down…)