Every animal has its own way of resting. Some sleep on the ground, some hide inside burrows, and others perch on tree branches. But bats, especially flying foxes, rest in a way unlike any other creature. They hang upside down, gripping branches with their feet while their heads point toward the earth. This unusual habit did not exist long ago, and bats once perched upright like birds. Something in the past changed their behavior forever.
In ancient times, bats lived quietly among all other animals, yet they were never truly accepted by anyone. Birds thought they looked too strange to belong with them, and four-legged animals believed bats were too different to be part of their world. Bats had wings but also fur, sharp teeth, and soft ears. They were neither fully bird nor fully beast, and this odd appearance caused every creature to keep its distance.
One day, a mother bat fell dangerously ill. She grew weaker each day, struggling to stay alive while still caring for her newborn baby. No animal came to help. She suffered alone from sickness, hunger, and exhaustion until she finally died. Her body lay under the harsh sun, unnoticed and unloved, while her baby bat watched helplessly from a nearby tree.
When the village leader discovered the lifeless mother bat, he gathered the birds and the four-legged animals and demanded that someone bury her. Leaving her body exposed was disrespectful and unsafe. But the birds refused first, saying the bat lived in trees and flew like them, yet she had fur, teeth, and milk glands that birds did not have. To them, she was not a true bird. The four-legged animals then refused as well. They argued that although the bat had a head and fur like theirs, she had no tail, so she could not be considered one of their kind. In the end, neither side accepted responsibility.
The village leader grew frustrated as both groups offered excuses that sounded reasonable but came from selfish hearts. No one felt compassion. With no creature willing to help, he finally ordered his servants to bury the mother bat. All the while, the baby bat listened to every painful word. It heard both sides reject its mother. It heard them deny her a place among them, even in death. Overwhelmed with sadness and anger, the young bat made a silent vow.
From that moment on, it promised that it and all its descendants would never look up at the sky again. Bats began hanging upside down as a permanent symbol of protest, grief, and rejection. They cling to branches with their heads lowered, turning away from the heavens and the world that refused to claim them. And this is why, to this day, bats sleep upside down, carrying the memory of that old injustice in every quiet, inverted rest.