Why do bugs flip over on their back when they die?
491311
The bugs you see dead around the house are found on their backs because they have been poisoned. The poison causes their muscles to spasm, and that in turn causes them to flip over. Normally a bug that has flipped over can right itself, but the posion prevents muscle co-ordination and stops them from righting themselves. So when they die they are found on their backs.\n\nIn contrast bugs found dead in the garden are just as often found dead in standing positions or lying on their sides.
1017672
Because insects use a different type of respiratory system than people do.  Rather than breathe air in through centralized nostrils to their lungs, they breathe air in through a de-centralized network of smaller tubes located all over the surface of their body known as spiracles.\n\nBecause of the large area they take oxygen in through, they are able to store enough air to breath for an extended period of time when deprived of oxygen, as they are when they're trapped underwater.  The water's surface tension keeps it from draining into the spiracles on their body, which is why it simply doesn't flood their respiratory system and drown them.  \n\nUsing this method of respiration allows roaches extra time to find their way back to a surface where they can get more air, and cockroaches aren't too particular about where they live, being well armored and equipped to survive in just about any conditions.\n\nSo, when you flush the roach, it just holds its breath, goes along for the ride, and when it gets to the sewer either drowns eventually or just crawls its way to the surface and moves on with life.\n\n\nP.S.-- This is also why pesticide makers have to either find an ingredient to break down the surface tension of water they suspend their poisons in or just go with another liquid base for their poisons... if the surface tension of the water is normal, the poison just sits on the outside of the roach's dead armor shell, and it holds its breath and waits until it dries off and the poison is no longer an issue.\n\nP.P.S.-- Have you seen how misclassified most of the questions on Yahoo Answers are?  Folks are asking jokes in philosophy, biology questions in engineering, sexual health questions in cooking, cooking questions in religion, and questions about dogs in the math section.  I'd be willing to bet a lot of people don't bother to pay very much attention to where the question is classified any more.
43099
Momma says "Bugs flip on their back when they're about to die because all their life they've been staring at the ground,and everyone needs to see the beautiful sky."J/K.
449105
The head of Death is right at the top of the moth, I actually have one right now. It's still a caterpillar, buried itself under some soil. It stays and cuccoons for about 2 or 3 weeks until it's ready to fly and search for nectar and honey to eat, they're very cool:)
427967
Because Dog was already taken. \n\nActually, as I recall it's because the wings of a butterfly has a tendency of picking up alot of pollen, and much like when you were a kid and you took a dandelion and brushed it against your skin it would leave a yellow (buttery color) residue, a butterflys wings would do the same. A buttery color dust would be left behind, so I guess they connected the color of the dust to the idea that this thing flies.
1147358
If we didn't toss and turn our skin would begin to die. That is why older people can get "bed sores". We have receptors in our skin that tell us to adjust whenever the epithelial portion of our skin starts to breakdown. This is why you can't sit in one position for too long.
450340
They are programmed to spiral around the moon. \nThis keeps the insects evenly dispersed across the land and  helps to prevent inter-beading. But lights are brighter than the moon and fool them.\nIf you watch them move towards the light, you should notice that they spiral towards it.
789781
they are dead.\n\njust like dead tree limbs, they fall off in time.\nit's called gravity.\n\nthe tree goes dormant, the leaves are not needed any longer for this year.\n\nthe leaves are dead and gravity will pull them to the ground
420923
It's not so much that a bat has to hang upside down, some bats, such as the famous vampire bat, are quite good at moving around on the ground using their feet and wings as locomotory limbs.\n\nMost bats have developed adaptations that allow them to hang upside down easily.  The tendons and ligaments in their feet are arranged in such a way that their natural position is 'flexed'.  It actually takes deliberate effort for them to let go with their feet.  So when they wrap their toes around a branch, or hook their claws on a crack or crevice in the rock, they can rest and even sleep without fear of falling off.  Their feet are locked in place.\n\nMost bats have their feet pretty much turned around, so that if they were lying down, the soles of their feet would point up.  This makes roosting and even catching flying prey easier, but makes walking somewhat ackward.  While they can do it if they really need to, they usually don't.  Sort of like a human crawling on their hands and knees.  We can do it, but it's not really what our limbs are adapted to do.
457303
Imagine a beach ball with two ladybugs on it, at opposite sides.  Hold your imaginary ball in front of you with one bug at the top and one at the bottom.  It does in fact appear that one bug is upside down to you.  Now hold the ball upside down.  You can't, because it is round, though the location of the bugs gives you an appearance of "upside down".  Taking the same application where Earth is now the beach ball and we are the ladybugs, gravity holds us to the Earth standing upright.  The apearance of "upside down" would occur if you could view a cut away, but you know now that you cannot turn the earth upside down in reality because of it's shape.
455674
if they are sick their sonar is off and they lose direction.  Often times, they end up on shore.  Perhaps it is natures way of weeding out the sick and weak.  Still very sad.
796796
I think all vertebrates use the same system we do.\n\nbugs have sensory hairs at all their joints. Especially the joints to head and to abdomen tend to be most important for gravity/balance perception (most mass attached). \nIn flying insects the ocelli (three single lens eyes on the top of their head) are thought to help with flight stabilization. Also flying insects have halteres to help with flight stabilization\n\nJellyfish, mussels and other marine invertebrates have statoliths/statocysts. Statoliths are made of a particular dense material and their displacement during acceleration/deceleration can be measured. \n\nI don't think bacteria care, but then they are not animals
1024998
well as far as i know most bugs have hairs on there legs.there hairs fives them a sort of ststic cling. i read this i while ago becuse im not big in entomology. but imangine it like this .the hairs disturb the atoms on the wall which causes dispersion forces which cause the very small bug  to stick to the wall...also some bugs have suckers and some produce sticky secretions.\n\nby the wat water flees can walk on water because there light and they don't break the water membrane but will drown in you add soap to the water.
891350
People die in all sorts of places. Some of them go to certain places because they know there gonna die... so what's the difference for an animal... It's the Dolphins' natural instinct to go to land when they are ill or on the verge on dying.... It's not very often they wash up on shore by accident... maybe babies but most of the time its to die.
511381
All commercial bug sprays contain nerve poisons.  \nThe only common bug spray that works by covering the respiratory holes is white oil, and that is normally home made. Commercial sprays are all nerve poisons.\n\nThe poison causes the bug's nerves to fire continuously and as a result the bug loses control over its muscles. That initially causes the bug to fall to the floor and spin around as it undergoes something equivalent to a seizure.\n\nBecause the seizure never stops eventually the bug simply dies of exhaustion. It is like being forced to run forever without ever being able to stop. All the muscles are being forced to work continuously and eventually the body simply runs out of energy.\n\n\nloligo your answer is almost completely wrong. It is almost impossible to find a bug spray today that contains Ach-estrase. All modern supermarket sprays are pyrethroid based and while they are still nerve toxins they are quite unrelated to ach-estrases and much safer.\n\nMore importantly death does NOT result from spiracle closure since very few insects can actually seal their spiracles, certainly not cockroaches, spiders or flies.
206614
some animals were them on the outsied insects and lobsters.\ninvertabreas dont have a spine and some dont have any bones!
439960
According to the Bernelli principle it is because the ratio of high-speed wing over the TOP of the foil of the wing is not sufficient to generate lift.  Therefore gravity takes over and it falls back to earth.